POT ACTIVIST PLEADS GUILTY TO FELONY, WON'T GO TO JAIL

medical-marijuana activist whose College Area home was raided by
police last year pleaded guilty to a single felony charge of illegal
cultivation but will not go to prison or jail, the prosecutor said
yesterday.

Dion Markgraaff, who had more than 13 pounds of marijuana, about 100
plants and $11,000 in cash at the time of the raid, admitted the
charge in San Diego Superior Court on Tuesday.

Under an agreement he reached with prosecutors, Markgraaff will
receive three years' probation and pay a $538 fine, but will not serve
any more time in custody. He spent one day in jail when he was arrested.

"I wanted to fight it, but you've got everything to lose," said
Markgraaff, 34. "It would have been a roll of the dice."

In addition to dismissing additional charges against Markgraaff,
prosecutors agreed to drop charges against his roommate, Abner
Nevarez. Each man faced three years in state prison if convicted on
all charges.

Damon Mosler, who runs the county District Attorney's Office narcotics
unit, said he worked out details of the plea directly with the defendant.

"It was an unusual negotiation in that we actually sat down and talked
about what he can have and what he can't have," Mosler said.

Markgraaff will be allowed to grow a smaller number of marijuana
plants under state Proposition 215, prosecutors said. But he would
still be breaking federal laws against possessing, growing and
distributing the drug.

"Nothing I've done can prevent the federal government from prosecuting
him," Mosler said.

The $11,000 was confiscated by the federal government, even though
Markgraaff said he has paperwork showing where it came from. But he
will get some of his marijuana returned by San Diego police.

"He's not going to get it all back," Mosler said of the 13 pounds of
pot. "It will be somewhere close to what the state allows."