JUDGE JUST FOLLOWED LAW IN POT TRIAL, EXPERTS SAY

Friends Vouch For His 'Impeccable Integrity'

When U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer took on the trial of medical
marijuana activist Ed Rosenthal, he knew all about the uneasy relationship
between federal and state laws.

After all, in 1998 Breyer had barred the Oakland pot club from distributing
marijuana for medical purposes, ruling that it conflicted with federal
laws. The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately agreed with Breyer, finding no
exception for the medicinal use of marijuana.

It was pure coincidence that Breyer would end up with the Rosenthal case
because federal cases are randomly assigned. But friends say Breyer
probably knew exactly what he was doing when he ruled before the federal
trial that Proposition 215, the 1996 medical marijuana initiative, was off
limits.

Breyer's confining the case to federal law later outraged jurors who felt
they were misled because they were never told of Rosenthal's motive for
growing marijuana to supply medical patients.

"I don't see how you can disregard the rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court,"
said Jerome Falk, a veteran San Francisco lawyer and close friend of
Breyer's. "It's sort of a no-brainer."

Any criticism of Breyer is out of the ordinary. Since he was appointed by
President Bill Clinton in 1997, Breyer, 61, is widely regarded as an
excellent judge with a strong grasp of both the law and the practical
realities.

Ira Jacobowitz appeared before Breyer when Jacobowitz represented four
senior Oakland tenants about to be evicted under a controversial federal
policy forbidding drug use by friends or relatives at public housing
facilities.

Breyer ended up issuing an injunction preventing the seniors from being
evicted because they didn't know about the drug activity. The U.S. Supreme
Court ultimately reversed Breyer's ruling.

"He got down to the real meaning of the policy," Jacobowitz recalled.
Attorney Gary Lafayette, who represented the Oakland Housing Authority,
found Breyer easy to deal with. "He tries to think through the issue to
come up with a practical result," Lafayette said.

Friends describe Breyer as thoughtful and engaging with a refreshing,
unpretentious style, an unusual trait for a federal judge.

"I don't think he takes himself as seriously as unfortunately some of us on
the bench do," said Justice J. Anthony Kline of the state appeals court in
San Francisco and a good friend of Breyer's.

Kline scoffed at the suggestion that Breyer may have acted out of some
personal agenda in barring Rosenthal from raising medical marijuana as a
defense. "He is regarded by most people who are familiar with his work as a
person of impeccable integrity," Kline said.

Breyer comes from rich legal stock. His older brother is U.S. Supreme Court
Justice Stephen Breyer. Before he became a judge, Breyer was one of the
most prominent attorneys in San Francisco, a partner at the political
powerhouse Coblentz Cahen McCabe & Breyer. His clients included rock star
Grace Slick and newspaper publisher William R. Hearst III.

Breyer was born and raised in San Francisco and attended Lowell High School.

His father, Irving Breyer, was general counsel for the San Francisco Board
of Education from the 1950s through the 1970s.

Breyer graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1963 and received his
law degree from UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law.

He was an assistant district attorney in San Francisco and a Watergate
special prosecutor before joining William Coblentz in 1975.

When he's not on the bench, Breyer, a dapper dresser who favors bow ties,
likes to ride his bicycle, ski and take in an occasional Giants baseball
game. He also loves to cook and is said to make a mean risotto.

He is married to Sydney Goldstein, executive producer of City Arts &
Lectures Inc. They have a daughter and a son.

Friends say he has no noticeable ego, which may explain his candid comment
in court Tuesday about his ruling that Rosenthal was not protected under a
federal immunity drug enforcement law even though he was deputized by
Oakland city officials.

"I could be wrong. The courts of appeal could disagree with me," he told
the lawyers.

Falk said Breyer is unfazed by any fallout from the Rosenthal trial.

"He loves it on the bench," Falk said. "Thinks it's the best job he's ever had."