GIAUQUE'S LAWYER ACCUSES POLICE OF RETALIATION

Chris Robert Giauque, known by many for his legal battle with Sheriff
Dennis Lewis over an ounce of marijuna earlier this year, may be a
victim of police retaliation, his lawyer J. Bryce Kenney charged on
Monday.

Absolutely not true, said the sheriff.

Giauque's indoor-marijuana operation in Miranda was raided last week
by the Sheriff's Department's Drug Enforcement Unit and federal drug
agents. About 200 plants were seized, along with 107 pounds of dried
marijuana and 6 pounds of hash from his Miranda residence.

He is now in jail in Marin County on federal drug charges and could
face 10 years in prison if tried and convicted.

Giauque, 39, a medical marijuana patient, sued the county to get back
one ounce of marijuana Sheriff's deputies seized from him during a
traffic stop two years ago. A county judge found the sheriff in
contempt of court for refusing to give it back. Then Lewis appealed
to the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, saying that by handing back
the marijuana he risked violating federal law. In late May, following
a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that generally bars medical marijuana, a
federal judge ordered the pot turned over to the state Justice
Department.

Early last week, Giauque filed a motion in federal court to try and
get the marijuana back. About three days later, drug agents raided
his home. Kenney said his office would be investigating to see if
there's any evidence indicating the arrest was meant as a retaliation
for this latest court motion.

"The timing seems a little suspect," Kenney said.

Lewis said the lawyer's suspicions are unfounded.

"It's not true," he said. "(Giauque) was arrested for what he was
doing, which was cultivating marijuana. There's nothing that says
that we have to forevermore ignore the man."

As far as Giauque's latest court motion, Lewis said it was a waste of
time because the pot has already been turned over to the Justice
Department and destroyed.