SENTENCE DELAYED FOR POT GROWER

Port Washington - An 80-year-old man who pleaded guilty three months
ago to being a partner in one of the largest marijuana-growing
operations ever discovered in Wisconsin may no longer be mentally
competent, his attorney said Thursday.

Eugene Burmesch was supposed to be sentenced by Ozaukee County
Circuit Judge Walter Swietlik. As part of a plea bargain, Burmesch
had pleaded guilty to felony charges of manufacturing marijuana and
maintaining a drug trafficking place.

"It is my duty to inform the court that there might be a slippage in
Mr. Burmesch's mental competency," defense attorney Gerald Boyle
said. "Mr. Burmesch is not legally competent to be sentenced."

A psychiatrist who examined Burmesch concluded he doesn't understand
what is happening to him, Boyle said. Boyle submitted that evaluation
as evidence at the sentencing hearing.

Swietlik ordered Burmesch to undergo a second evaluation. At the
request of District Attorney Sandy Williams, this one will be
conducted by a forensic psychiatrist who works for Milwaukee County,
the judge said.

Under state law, Swietlik could suspend the proceedings against
Burmesch if the judge decides Burmesch is legally incompetent.

Burmesch will be examined July 6, Swietlik said. Swietlik scheduled a
hearing for Aug. 2 to hear the results of the Milwaukee examination
and to rule on whether Burmesch understands what is going on.

In March, Eugene Burmesch pleaded guilty to charges of manufacturing
marijuana and maintaining a drug trafficking place. His brother,
David, 75, pleaded no contest to the same charges.

Swietlik sentenced David Burmesch on Tuesday to a year in the county
jail and five years' probation. The judge also ordered David Burmesch
to pay fines totaling $2,957 and perform 200 hours of community
service.

It was to David Burmesch's Town of Belgium farm that agents from the
state Department of Justice's Division of Narcotic's Enforcement went
on Sept. 1, 2000. The agents had received an anonymous tip that
someone had a large-scale marijuana-growing operation at that
location.

What agents found was what they described as one of the largest
growing operations ever uncovered in the state.

In an 80- by 40-foot plot, they found 498 marijuana plants averaging
6 feet high. In a building next to the garden, they found 98.5 pounds
of marijuana in bundles averaging between 1.5 pounds and 2.5 pounds.

The Burmesch brothers were two of the older suspected growers ever
arrested in Wisconsin.

Eugene Burmesch told agents that he and his brother had been growing
marijuana for between 20 and 25 years. He said that the brothers
first obtained the seeds and tips on growing the plants from a
co-worker at A.O. Smith Corp.

Eugene Burmesch said they had trouble with the final crop because
seedlings David Burmesch had first grown indoors did not grow when
transplanted outdoors, the complaint says.

Eugene Burmesch said the marijuana officers found growing in the
field had sprouted on its own, according to the initial complaint.