FEDERAL JUDGE SENTENCES PLUMAS POT GROWERS

Another lengthy and emotional hearing on medical marijuana punishment
played out Friday in Sacramento federal court, culminating in the
sentencing of a Plumas County man to two years in prison and his wife
to six months.

Jeffre Sean Sanderson and his wife, Alice Jean Wiegand, were arrested
in 2006 on federal marijuana charges.

The couple insisted they grew and used marijuana for medicinal and
spiritual purposes. But confronted with the reality that medical
necessity is not a defense in federal court, they pleaded guilty in
November to manufacturing the drug at their home in the steep, wooded
Rush Creek Canyon.

Because Plumas family court plans to restore custody of the couple's
children one an infant and the other a toddler to Wiegand on April
28, U.S. District Judge Frank C. Damrell Jr. allowed her to remain
free until Dec. 1.

There will be a six-month trial period after the children return to
her, and the judge did not want to disturb that. He told the
30-year-old Wiegand she will have the next 7 1/2 months to arrange
care for the children while she is in prison.

Child Protective Services took the children when she and Sanderson
were arrested.

Wiegand attorney Danny Brace Jr. sought probation for his client.

But Damrell said she needs the six months to ponder the wisdom of
allowing Sanderson to grow marijuana on property she owned. The
government has now taken the land because it was used for a criminal activity.

"You put cannabis at the center of your life at the risk of losing
your children," the judge told Wiegand. "Anybody who would do that
has no sense of balance. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes, your honor," she replied softly.

Damrell stressed that keeping the family together for the children's
sake is his priority, and said that was also a consideration when he
decided on the two-year term for the 27-year-old Sanderson. The
sentence was six months less than one urged by prosecutor Michael
Beckwith and 22 months below a probation officer's recommendation.

Beckwith and defense attorney Timothy Zindel previously agreed
Sanderson's plants yielded roughly 165 pounds of marijuana.

Predictably, Friday's hearing did not go smoothly.

Zindel believes his client has been wrongly accused by the government
of lying when he said he never sold pot, and the lawyer put up a
fierce fight for probation.

Damrell said he believes Sanderson was not truthful with the
probation officer regarding income, a pronouncement that caught
Zindel off guard and an issue not directly addressed in the flood of
court papers preceding the sentencings.

A heated exchange ensued, with Damrell declaring Zindel "out of
order" at one point.

"It's an irrelevant issue that came right out of left field and is
based on assumptions that are dead wrong," Zindel said after the hearing.

He announced to Damrell his intention to appeal Sanderson's sentence.

Both Zindel and his client assured the judge Sanderson's motives were
altruistic, but Damrell was having none of it.

"You put your children at risk," the judge told Sanderson. "You put
your wife's life at risk. Think about the misery you've caused.
You're narcissistic to the point that you are a danger."

The 11 weeks leading up to Friday's hearing have seen a multitude of
filings by the government and defense and a protracted evidentiary
hearing on whether Sanderson sold pot.

Beckwith initially agreed to a certain amount of leniency for
Sanderson and Wiegand, contingent on the pair giving full and
truthful accounts of their marijuana enterprise to him and narcotics
agents. He changed his mind after a neighbor came forward to claim
Sanderson did sell marijuana, contrary to the couple's denials.

"This case is nothing more than a straightforward, run-of-the-mill
drug case, with two important exceptions: 1) (Sanderson) is a
recidivist who has no respect for the law or the court's orders; and
2) he created a drug-plagued environment that endangered the
development of two very young children," Beckwith wrote in a
memorandum filed Feb. 29.

An outraged Zindel labeled the neighbor a liar, accused Beckwith of
character assassination and said the U.S. attorney's office has
historically resorted to such tactics in cases involving claims of medical use.

"This case has made it clear to me that marijuana does, in fact,
cause delusions on the part of the government," he said in an interview.