POT TRIAL LAWYER ASKS JUDGE TO THROW OUT TWO CHARGES

The government wrapped up its case Wednesday in the marijuana-growing trial
of Bryan James Epis, and his lawyer asked the judge to throw out half the
charges due to "an utter lack of evidence."

The 35-year-old Epis, who helped establish and supply a cannabis buyers'
club in Chico, does not deny cultivating marijuana. But he insists he did
not profit from the venture and sought only to help sick people with
doctors' recommendations, in compliance with California's Compassionate Use
Act.

What he and his lawyer, J. Tony Serra, hotly dispute is that Epis agreed
with others to hike his own production to more than 1,000 plants, a charge
that carries a minimum of 10 years in prison upon conviction in federal court.

The two counts in the indictment that embody that charge are what Serra
asked U.S. District Judge Frank C. Damrell Jr. to dismiss at the close of
the government's case. Damrell reserved ruling in the matter.

The other two counts charge Epis with growing at least 100 plants.
Conviction on that charge carries a minimum five-year term.

Assistant U.S. attorney Samuel Wong argued that the evidence supports a
1,000-plant conspiracy. He reminded the judge that fingerprints of two
other people were lifted from cultivation and processing equipment in Epis'
Chico residence when it was searched June 25, 1997. A Jiffy Lube receipt
written to one of those individuals also was found in the residence, Wong said.

The prosecutor also argued that evidence shows Epis was assisted by another
person. It further shows that Epis was sharing each harvest with at least
two people, Wong said.

Finally, Wong noted that a car belonging to David Kasakove, the operator of
the buyers' club and one of the people whose prints were found at the
house, was seen at Epis' residence three months before the search.

Serra countered that, if there was enough evidence to place Kasakove in a
1,000-plant conspiracy, he would have been charged along with Epis.

"There is no evidence of an express agreement," he said, adding that the
material upon which Wong is relying is "fatally ambiguous."

The prosecution is based on the fruits of the search and the testimony of
two officers who were there -- U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Special
Agent Ronald Mancini and Michael Shane Redmond, then a Butte County
sheriff's sergeant and now a state agent assigned to gambling investigations.

The search team found a hydroponic grow operation in the basement, a
processing room on the second floor, and 458 plants in various stages of
development.

Evidence that Epis was helping patients and that the growing operation
post-dated passage of the state's medical marijuana initiative is not
admissible under federal law. It is the first federal criminal case
involving a cannabis buyers' club to reach a jury.

The key document underlying Wong's theory that Epis was looking forward to
big money as a major distributor is a computer-generated table of projected
sales and expenses from March 21, 1997, to Jan. 1, 1998, that was found in
the house. It estimates sales of smokable pot extracted from the plants'
buds and baked goods made from the plants' leaves would yield a net weekly
profit of $1,896,960 by the end of 1997.

Thousands of plants would be required to generate profits of that
magnitude, Redmond testified. He cited extra equipment and supplies found
in the house that, but for the raid, could have been used to expand the grow.

Serra told the jury in his opening statement that the computer document's
data are not confined to Chico Medical Marijuana Caregivers, with which
Epis was affiliated. Rather, he said, they reflect membership in medical
marijuana organizations throughout California.

The defense lawyer began presenting his case Wednesday afternoon.

The trial will resume Monday.