DEFENSE COUNTERS EVIDENCE AGAINST COUPLE AT POT TRIAL

Defense attorneys for Steve and Michelle Kubby, the Squaw Valley couple
accused of growing an indoor marijuana garden for commercial use, argued
that a "pay-owe" sheet seized at their home was just notes estimating how
much it would cost them to buy medicinal pot rather than grow it.

Nevada County Deputy Sheriff Frank Koehler, brought in as an expert witness
by Placer County prosecutors, testified earlier that a piece of Marriott
Hotel stationery with letters identifying various types of marijuana and
their monetary value was consistent with "pay-owe" documents used in
commercial sales.

But during cross-examination by attorney J. David Nick, Koehler conceded
there could be another reasonable explanation.

Nick argued that the Kubbys, knowing they were being watched by police,
discussed how much it would cost them to buy the marijuana they needed
while Michelle Kubby took notes.

"I believe that's far-fetched but reasonable," Koehler said.

Koehler also testified that a scale, found upstairs in a bedroom and not
near the plants, could have been used to ensure the pot weighed less than
an ounce rather than to measure larger quantities with the intent to sell.

The defense questioned Koehler's expertise by noting that he hadn't read
one of the training manuals he gave attorneys.

Koehler was also unfamiliar with a marijuana study conducted by the Drug
Enforcement Administration.

"This is what I call the head-in-the-sand approach where you say, 'I don't
need scientific literature, or training manuals, and I don't know what the
books say. I retreat to my own experience,' " said defense attorney J. Tony
Serra. "Why don't you read? Experts read, don't they?"

The Kubbys say they were growing the plants legally under a 1996
proposition approved by California voters. The act allows ill patients,
with a doctor's approval, to cultivate and use marijuana, for their own
medical purposes.

Steve Kubby, 53, has been diagnosed with cancer. His wife, Michelle Kubby,
34, suffered from a bowel ailment.

Koehler said Wednesday that the Kubbys' garden was a "sophisticated
operation" designed for a "combination of personal use and sales and
distribution."

"Each of the Kubbys had a serious condition and each had a (medical
marijuana) recommendation," Serra said. "Mr. Kubby believed he was about to
die and for him this was a wonder drug."