COUNTY PLANS TO APPEAL MEDICAL MARIJUANA RULING

Riverside County prosecutors will announce plans tomorrow to appeal a
ruling to quash a search warrant used to get evidence for criminal
charges against the operators medical marijuana outlet in Palm Desert.

CannaHelp owner Stacy Hochanadel and his managers, James Campbell and
John Bednar, all 31, were arrested in December 2006 and charged with
felony possession of marijuana for sale, transport and sale of
marijuana and keeping a place to sell controlled substances.

Marijuana and financial records were seized at CannaHelp, 73359 El
Paseo, in December 2006 during a raid by the Riverside County
Sheriff's Department.

With the primary evidence thrown out, prosecutors will announce their
intention to file an appeal of the ruling by Riverside County
Superior Court Judge David B. Downing during a trial readiness
conference Monday, Deputy District Attorney Richard Cookson said.

After his April 4 ruling, Downey said he looked at the facts
carefully and concluded the three defendants were in compliance with
the state's Compassionate Use Act and were operating a "legitimate business."

Downing concluded the affidavit in support of the search warrant was
flawed because Robert Garcia, the sheriff's investigator who prepared
it -- although familiar with drug cases -- was not adequately trained
in handling medical marijuana cases.

Downing also noted that police see people selling drugs every day,
but rarely prosecute medical marijuana sellers. He said Garcia
wrongly asserted that the dispensary made profits of $1.6 milliont.
Under cross-examination, he admitted that most of the money was used
to buy more pot or to cover expenses.

If the ruling stands, the case likely will be dismissed for a lack of evidence.

"I expect it will be a lengthy process," Cookson said Thursday about
his office's planned appeal with the 4th District Court of Appeals in
Riverside.

Bednar's attorney Phillip La Rocca said Friday that the three co-
defendants plan to fight the case all the way to the California
Supreme Court if necessary and that it was a situation "best laid to
rest" by the district attorney's office.

"It's a shame they're filing this (the appeal)." La Rocca said. "It's
clearly a case in our favor and all they're going to do is set a
precedent statewide against all law enforcement trying to deal with
medical marijuana issues."

La Rocca said the appeal process would be "lengthy and expensive" for
the three men and could take up to two years.

The defendants contend they were running a legal medical marijuana
dispensary under Proposition 215 and Senate Bill 420. Under
California law, marijuana can be sold on a not-for-profit basis to
patients with a doctor's prescription, although it is illegal for any
purpose under federal law.

During a preliminary hearing in December to determine if there was
enough evidence to order the three defendants to stand trial, Garcia
testified that an undercover officer twice purchased medical
marijuana on the premises for what he said was a back problem.

However, he also said CannaHelp tried to comply with the law and that
the dispensary refused to sell to the first undercover officer who
tried to purchase marijuana because the employees could not verify
his doctor's prescription.

Garcia also conceded that the defendants never tried to hide their
business from law enforcement and it would be unfair to compare them
to street-level drug dealers.

The three defendants have been free on their own recognizance on the
condition they do not possess marijuana in excess of what state law
allows. All three men are medical marijuana cardholders with
prescriptions for the drug. They also cannot sell the drug or provide
it to patients in a care-giving capacity. If convicted, the three men
could face as much as two years in prison, according to prosecutors.