PLea Bargins ends mega medical marijuana case

By TERRY VAU DELL - Staff Writer
Posted: 06/25/2009 10:39:55 PM PDT

OROVILLE -- Unexpected plea bargains were struck Thursday, resolving
criminal charges against all but one person in a 13-co-defendant Butte
County medical marijuana case.

Most of the defendants pleaded no contest either to illegal cultivation,
possession of pot for sale, or maintaining a place where marijuana is used
or sold, in return for a guarantee of probation.

Prosecutors said they will demand prison terms for two others who they
regard as more culpable.

All charges were dropped Thursday against Dustin Lawrence Shay after
authorities determined he was never involved in the illicit marijuana
operation.

The attorney for the remaining defendant, Trevor A. Andrews, was permitted
to opt out of Thursday's "package" plea deal for fear a criminal drug
conviction could cause his client to be deported back to his native Jamaica.

Andrews, who was reportedly arrested while watering one of the remote
marijuana gardens, was forced to waive a preliminary hearing, which had been
in its third day Thursday, and now could face going to jury trial alone.

All 13 defendants were arrested last September during raids on a dozen or
more medical marijuana grows in various sections of the county.

Authorities alleged the suspects were misusing California's medical
marijuana law as a cover to grow and sell pot for profit.

J. Tony Serra, a criminal defense attorney from San Francisco who has
appeared in many high-profile criminal cases, including that of 1960s Black
Panther leader Huey Newton, called the marijuana charges against his client
"a disgrace."

"We're in a transitional period ... on the eve of great change in the law,
great change in behavior and attitude toward marijuana; everywhere
enlightened countries and enlightened states are recognizing the efficacy
and health effects of marijuana," Serra said.

"These people in this transitional phase are being made martyrs," the
defense lawyer said.

Disagreeing strongly, assistant district attorney Helen Harberts said the
evidence produced during the court hearing showed that not only were the
suspects abusing for personal gain a law passed by the voters, but risking
the health of many young people caught up in the purported scheme.

"People who are in the business cultivating and selling marijuana for profit
are a public safety nightmare; almost every one of these places had
firearms," she said. "It's wholly inappropriate and I don't think it's what
the voters intended."

During the preliminary hearing, sheriff's officers testified to finding the
same names of medical marijuana patients on scripts posted at multiple grow
sites in the county.

Some patients testified they were unaware their doctor's recommendations had
been copied and were being posted at more than one garden, if at all.

But Chico attorney Dennis Latimer said he felt "there are far worse cases
than this."

"They were pursuing this case for some reason, but it's not based on
proportionality," the defense attorney added.

Given what he felt were different levels of culpability, Latimer also said
he felt a package plea bargain was unfair.

"If you don't plead, you're hurting other people" by forcing them to trial,
he noted.

The prosecutor had yet to finish the first half of her case surrounding
sheriff's raids last September on six indoor and outdoor medical marijuana
grows in the foothills around Concow, Berry Creek and Butte Creek Canyon.

Harberts alleged a Chico resident, Casey James Wilkins, had been the
principal mastermind behind the grows and was funneling profits into a
series of "shell" businesses in an attempt to launder the money.

Wilkins Thursday pleaded no contest to charges of felony cultivation,
possession for sales and money laundering, in return for the dismissal of a
newly-filed marijuana sales case and an agreement not to prosecute a female
acquaintance.

Wilkins also stipulated to a civil asset judgment that will require him to
forfeit more than $9,000 in cash seized during the raids and a boat, which
has already been sold at auction by local authorities.

Harberts said she will seek prison terms of up to four years and four months
against Wilkins and an associate, Matthew Herrick, at the Sept. 14
sentencing set by Judge Steven Howell in all 11 cases.

Harberts has agreed to recommend probation for four others associated with
the Wilkins' side of the case: Jeffrey Raymond Nichol, Arthur Leonard
Jenkins, Michael Lane Jones and Keith Colin Oshea.

Amy Miles, the only female suspect arrested, will be granted diversion. All
charges against her will be dismissed upon successful completion of a drug
rehabilitation program, according to her attorney, Anthony Cardoza.

Several others arrested in connection with raids on medical marijuana
collective gardens in and around Chico, Cohasset and Forest Ranch, accepted
separate plea bargains that will guarantee them probation, with up to one
year in jail.

They are: Matthew Robert Eubanks, James Allison Martin, Sean Steven Grogan
and Asher Leon Prince.

Eubanks, who prosecutors had characterized as one of the ringleaders, also
agreed to forfeit some $9,430 in cash.

A 1969 Ford Bronco which he customized will be returned to Eubanks as well
as other custom heavy equipment seized by authorities worth more than
$100,000, in return for a cash payment of $30,000, according to his
attorney, Robert Marshall.

"I don't think Matt was nearly as involved as some of the other
individuals," said Marshall.

He said his client had to weigh the expense of a potential six-week jury
trial and imprisonment if convicted, in addition to watching "his friends go
down" if he didn't accept the plea bargain.