JUDGE TOSSES OUT POT-CASE PANEL

He Accuses A Defendant Of Trying To Sway Would-Be Jurors With Fliers.

A long-smoldering medical marijuana case burst into flames Monday when a
Sacramento federal judge accused the defendant of trying to taint the
prospective-juror pool and had him briefly arrested.

All 42 would-be jurors were disqualified by an outraged U.S. District Judge
Frank C. Damrell Jr. when he learned that some of the panelists were given
a first-person statement attributed to defendant Bryan James Epis, and a
pamphlet purporting to explain how jurors are manipulated by judges.

Prospective jurors' exposure to the literature triggered a heated exchange
between Damrell and an agitated J. Tony Serra, who insisted his client had
nothing to do with the distribution.

The one-page statement "was apparently prepared by your client" and handed
to people outside the federal courthouse after they identified themselves
as prospective jurors, Damrell told Serra, while the defense attorney was
talking over him.

The judge declared that if Epis was behind the distribution, "that's
criminal contempt," adding that it "sufficiently contaminated" the panel to
wipe out its viability. Damrell said he will bring in a new panel Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the judge set an Aug. 1 hearing on whether Epis is guilty of
obstructing justice by attempting to influence the jury.

Monday's clash is the latest manifestation of the increasing tension
between the advocates of California's law allowing medical use of marijuana
on a doctor's recommendation and the agents and prosecutors who enforce the
federal ban on pot for any purpose.

Underscoring the hostile atmosphere was a federal drug agent's arrest of a
leading pro-marijuana activist, who was then locked up in one of the
building's holding cells. Jeffrey Jones, who was arrested outside the
courthouse during the Epis hearing, was later brought before U.S.
Magistrate Judge Gregory G. Hollows. Jones was cited for a misdemeanor
attempt to influence jurors by handing out the literature and released
pending trial.

Jones heads the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, which provided pot to
patients suffering from AIDS, multiple sclerosis and other serious
ailments. It was hit with an injunction two weeks ago by a federal judge in
Oakland.

The ruling halts the operation of such clubs, even though they are
permitted under California's Proposition 215, the 1996 initiative that made
marijuana legal for some seriously ill patients. Next to consider that case
is the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled for the pot clubs in
an earlier, narrower Proposition 215 matter, but was reversed by the U.S.
Supreme Court. The high court found that medical necessity offers no
defense to federal prosecution.

While that litigation is playing out in the civil arena, the Epis case will
be the first federal criminal prosecution involving a cannabis buyers' club
to go before a jury. The trial is expected to last two weeks.

Epis, 35, was a founder and supplier of Chico Medical Marijuana Caregivers.
He is charged with conspiring to manufacture at least 1,000 plants, which
carries a mandatory 10-year prison term, and manufacturing at least 100
plants, which carries a mandatory five years -- all within 1,000 feet of
Chico Senior High School.

His voice rising Monday, Serra accused the judge of acting on "double
hearsay," as U.S. deputy marshals moved in at Damrell's direction,
handcuffed Epis and led him out of the courtroom.

Damrell later relented and ordered Epis' release. But he found there is
"reason to believe the defendant caused the dissemination of (the fliers
and pamphlets) in an attempt to influence the jury's verdict."

He said copies of each were supplied to him by the jury administrator and
the prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Samuel Wong. The judge appointed
Wong and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth Melikian to investigate Epis'
role, if any, in the dissemination of the literature, and prosecute him if
the evidence warrants it.

Serra said in a hallway interview that the statement of the case has been
available on the Internet since early this year. An addition to the
statement urging people to come to the courthouse Monday and join a
"respectful" protest against federal marijuana policy was later available
on the same Web site, he said.

In the statement, Epis is quoted as saying that, even though he was
initially indicted in 1997, he was not charged with a 1,000-plant
conspiracy until January, after he refused Wong's offer of four years in
prison in return for pleading guilty to growing 100 plants.

"I never profited from medical cannabis and provided it to seriously ill
patients with a doctor's recommendation," the statement says.

The pamphlet, a product of the so-called Fully Informed Jury Association,
alleges that judges rarely tell jurors of their right "to judge the law
itself and vote on the verdict according to conscience." The pamphlet says
a person cannot be forced to obey a "juror's oath" and has the right to
"hang" the jury "if you cannot agree with the other jurors."