MINISTERS' POT TRIAL DELAYED

SAN ANDREAS -- Attorneys for two Wallace ministers charged with cultivating
marijuana said they will ask a state appeals court to review a county
judge's denial of a motion to dismiss the case.

Ricky Dewayne Garner, 43, and Sue Melinda Garner, 40, were scheduled to go
to trial Wednesday in Calaveras County Superior Court on a
marijuana-cultivation charge.

But assigned Judge Robert Martin granted the Garners a two-week
continuance, during which their attorneys plan to file a writ with the 3rd
District Court of Appeal in Sacramento.

If the appeals court hears the writ -- a sort of appeal -- the Garners'
trial could be postponed until the higher court renders a decision.

The Garners, ministers of the Northern Lights Church, had their Southworth
Road property raided by Calaveras County sheriff's deputies in August.
Deputies found 290 marijuana plants and seized weapons, smoking pipes,
growing equipment, church documents and doctors' recommendations for
medicinal marijuana use.

The Garners were not hiding their marijuana-growing operation and said they
were cultivating it for their own medicinal use as well as for 16 other
people who had a legal right to the drug. Several of those people lived in
Bakersfield.

Under Proposition 215, people suffering from certain medical conditions may
use marijuana if they have a doctor's recommendation or approval.

The 1996 law also states that marijuana cultivation and possession laws do
not apply to legitimate patients or their primary caregivers. The latter is
defined as the person who has "consistently assumed responsibility for the
housing, health or safety" of a patient.

The Garners maintained they were assuming the role of caregivers. After a
preliminary hearing in December, a judge ruled there was enough evidence to
hold the Garners for trial.

However, attorneys Adam G. Gasner, who represents Ricky Garner, and J.
David Nick, who represents Sue Garner, say there was not enough evidence
presented at that hearing to warrant the holding order. Last week, they
asked Judge John Martin to dismiss the case. Robert Martin and John Martin
are not related.

Nick said in court documents that the prosecution never introduced any
evidence to refute the Garners' claim that they were consistently providing
for the health needs of the 16 people for whom they held medical marijuana
recommendations.

Seth Matthews, a deputy district attorney prosecuting the case, said in
court documents that assigned Judge Nels Fransen, who presided over the
preliminary hearing, was justified in holding the Garners for trial,
because Fransen questioned whether the Garners could act as legitimate
primary caregivers for people in Bakersfield.

John Martin, who issued his denial motion last week after hearing
arguments, wrote that there is some evidence that the amount of marijuana
grown at the Southworth Road property "was in excess of the acceptable
amount for medical use."

Nick countered Wednesday that there are no distance parameters that pertain
to caregiver status, nor has anyone determined what is a reasonable amount
of marijuana for patients to have.

Nick said John Martin concluded the 290 plants were excessive "because he
couldn't consider throwing a case out of court that involved 290 marijuana
plants."

"He had the attitude that it's just not legal," Nick said. "But it is legal."