PUBLIC DEFENDERS TESTIFY ANDERSON WAS TARGETED

Hemp Advocate Was Charged For Having Seeds Commonly Sold In Stores.

Three members of the Public Defenders office testified Friday about what
they believe is evidence of selective prosecution against Aaron Anderson
for buying a product found in bird seed and spices.

Anderson, a Big Island hemp and marijuana advocate, is suing the county for
$1 million, alleging that prosecutors were politically motivated when they
obtained a grand jury indictment against him for felony drug possession in
1992. Charges against Anderson and Roger Christie came after a
drug-sniffing dog alerted authorities to a package containing 25 pounds of
hemp seeds at the Hilo Federal Express office.

The hemp plant is related to marijuana.

Christie was eventually dropped from the case and Circuit Judge Greg
Nakamura dismissed Anderson's charges after his 1998 trial ended in a hung
jury.

In a civil trial before Federal Judge Kevin Chang in Honolulu, Deputy
Public Defender Neilani Graham testified Friday that she was the first
attorney assigned to defend Anderson against his criminal charges.

Graham said Anderson told her he ordered the shipment of hemp seeds from
Specialty Commodities Inc., a North Dakota company, after Anderson and
Christie attended a hemp festival in San Francisco. "The hemp seed that Mr.
Anderson ordered was to be ground into flour," she said.

Graham said the Drug Enforcement Administration later investigated
Specialty Commodities Inc. to see if it was a "contraband company" and gave
it "a clean bill of health."

After Anderson's indictment, Graham learned that several Big Island
establishments sold hemp seeds legally. She assigned an investigator from
her office, Lane Yoshida, to purchase seeds from Miranda Country Store for
use as evidence in Anderson's defense. "I was trying to prove that anybody
could do what Mr. Anderson did," she said.

Yoshida testified that he found hemp seeds in bird seed and in Asian spices
that were for sale in Hilo stores.

At a 1995 court hearing in Hilo, at which Yoshida planned to introduce the
seeds as evidence, Deputy Prosecutor Kay Iopa threatened Yoshida that if he
did so, she would charge him with knowingly possessing marijuana, Graham
testified. Because of the threat, "Our office had to withdraw from Mr.
Anderson's case," she said.

Under questioning by Anderson's attorney, Steven Strauss, Graham also said
prosecutors never provided her with a copy of a February 1993 memorandum
from attorney Robert Garcia to Iopa. The memo referred to a telephone
conversation in which Iopa apparently agreed not to prosecute Miranda
Country Store for selling hemp seeds.

Another Hilo attorney, Anthony Bartholomew, testified that he was assigned
to be Anderson's court-appointed lawyer in March 1997 after the Public
Defender's office withdrew from the criminal case. Bartholomew, who now
works for the Public Defender's office himself, said that although
prosecutors are required by law to turn over any evidence that might help
in a suspect's defense, he never saw the memo about Miranda Country Store.

Graham testified that Strauss - who represented Christie in the criminal
case - offered to drop Christie's civil lawsuit against the county if
prosecutors dismissed the charges against his client. According to Graham,
Iopa told Strauss that any plea agreement would require a condition that
Anderson and Christie stop writing letters to the editor about their case.

Graham testified that the requirement would be a violation of Anderson's
constitutional right to free speech. "I suppose what really upset me was
that she would even have the nerve to baldly state that as a condition,"
Graham said. "It was outrageous."

Under cross examination by Deputy Corporation Counsel Joseph Kamelamela,
Graham conceded that no such condition was ever imposed on Anderson because
no plea agreement was reached. Graham also said she never informed Iopa's
bosses about the alleged constitutional violation. She further acknowledged
that Iopa's proposed condition has not stopped Anderson from continuing his
outspoken support of hemp.

Bartholomew testified that when he took over as Anderson's lawyer, he found
bird seed that contained hemp seeds at Wal-Mart, Long's, Payless Drugstore
and Woolworth's. "As far as I was aware, none of these establishments were
being prosecuted or even investigated for prosecution, which became
evidence that Mr. Anderson was the victim of selective prosecution,"
Bartholomew said.

Under cross examination, Bartholomew acknowledged that the seed at those
stores was labeled as bird seed. Kamelamela is apparently trying to show
the jury that the stores didn't have illegal purposes in mind when selling
the product.

After the trio from the Public Defenders office finished testifying, Iopa
took the witness stand. Although Strauss called Iopa as a witness for the
defense, it became clear early in her testimony that the two lawyers still
maintain an adversarial relationship.

Kamelamela objected several times to Strauss' "argumentative" questions to
the witness. At one point Iopa objected on her own, prompting Judge Chang
to admonish Iopa to let the lawyers do their jobs.

After the jurors left the courtroom for the day, Chang asked Strauss to
focus on the issues. "Try not to engage in a running gun battle," he said.
Chang also suggested that Kamelamela speak to Iopa about her habit of
volunteering information and being "nonresponsive."

Earlier, Iopa testified that she was assigned to Anderson's criminal case
in early 1992. "The basis for the accusation and the indictment was that
Mr. Anderson possessed approximately 23 pounds of marijuana," Iopa said.
"Under state law, all parts of the marijuana plant - including the seeds -
are marijuana."

Iopa said that police germinated some of Anderson's hemp seeds. "The seeds
were not just seeds," she said. "The seeds grew into plants and 23 pounds
of them had the ability to grow into very many plants."

Strauss asked Iopa what evidence she has that Anderson had the "intention
or capacity to grow hundreds of thousands of plants."

Iopa said the purchase of the seeds was evidence. She added that Anderson
told police he planned to feed people food made from hemp "to throw the
piss test out the window," a reference to urine tests for the presence of
marijuana. In addition, Iopa said, "there was his statement that he thought
hemp should be used for food, fiber, and fun."

Iopa will likely resume the stand when the trial continues Tuesday. Both
she and Prosecuting Attorney Jay Kimura were originally named as defendants
but were dropped from the case because they were engaged in their official
duties during Anderson's prosecution. Hawaii County remains the sole
defendant in t he lawsuit.