SUITS RAP DEPUTIES ON RAIDS

Court Cases Target Marijuana Probes

A series of marijuana raids in 1998 and 1999 has Placer County facing
damage claims that could top $30 million in several lawsuits.

Three court cases could be merged in a single trial, said Santa Cruz
attorney Kate Wells.

Cases involve people who were charged but not convicted, and people who
were never charged, Wells said. Raids sought marijuana in plaintiffs'
homes. The three plaintiffs are medical patients who say they have used
marijuana legally for pain relief.

Additional, similar cases are also in court, said Placer County Counsel
Tony LaBouff.

"Most of those cases are in federal district court," LaBouff said. "We've
had about six cases."

The plaintiffs generally allege that a group of Placer sheriff's detectives
acted on false affidavits for search warrants. The warrants concerned homes
in Sacramento and Placer counties. The plaintiffs sued in 1999 after Placer
supervisors denied claims related to the searches.

A lengthy fact-finding stage is set to begin in the cases, said David
Husky, deputy county counsel.

"We have the rest of this year to do discovery," Husky said.

Wells represents plaintiffs Robert DeArkland, Chris Miller and Lyman Sanborn.

"On July 1, 1999, sheriffs broke into my house and assaulted and battered
me and my family," wrote Sanborn, a Roseville resident, in a claim filed in
December 1999. "They dangerously brandished their weapons at us and we were
terrorized by their unwarranted behavior. The officers pushed and
handcuffed us without regard to physical condition or age."

Sanborn is a childhood chum of former President Ronald Reagan, known as a
law-and-order politician, Wells said.

Wells said the cases concern a systematic misuse of power by Placer
detectives. The abuse is no different from many such abuses around the
state, she said. Drug squads need to justify funding, so too often they
improperly pursue easy targets - medical-marijuana users, Wells said.

"A judge has held the three cases are related, and I want them consolidated
for trial purposes," Wells said.

Defendants Placer and Sacramento counties want separate trials, Husky said.
Several details differ among the cases. At some homes, detectives found no
marijuana and made no arrests.

In preparing to seek warrants to search homes, detectives searched for and
found marijuana cuttings in trash, and subpoenaed electric bills that
showed abnormal power use, warrant affidavits say.

The plaintiffs claim detectives knew any marijuana growing in the
residences was for medical use.

Lt. Rick Armstrong, Placer sheriff's spokesman, avoided comment on open
court cases.

"We obey the law," Armstrong said. "If we receive information on a person
who's possibly growing, we investigate to see if it's medicinal."

It is alleged that Placer detectives conducted surveillance of a
hydroponics-supply store on Auburn Boulevard in the Arcade area of
Sacramento County, recorded license-plate numbers of customers and used
license data to find home addresses, Wells said.

Affidavits say that at several homes - including the plaintiffs' -
detectives searched trash, subpoenaed light bills and sought warrants.

Hydroponics is a long-established, legal method of growing various plants
with no soil, under special lights.

"Many people believe they took down license numbers," Wells said. "They
went into trash. There's about 80 warrants, and they look like carbon
copies. The store owners were very upset. They contacted me to see if there
were grounds for litigation."

Armstrong would not confirm or deny that general investigative procedures
include surveillance of hydroponics stores.

"I'm not going to give you our investigative techniques," he said.

A typical search-warrant affidavit in the cases says detectives went to a
particular address and saw a vehicle with a particular license number. The
affidavit then offers the vehicle sighting in support of a request to
search the residence. The affidavit fails to say how Placer detectives
learned the address.

A fourth plaintiff, Joseph Sandbank, claimed his trash contained no
marijuana cuttings, but that detectives falsely swore it did in seeking a
warrant, court documents show. Husky said Sandbank did not claim to be a
medicinal pot user.

Cases are moving slowly through the court system. Trial dates are set for
early 2003, Husky said. Simply taking depositions from detectives and from
plaintiffs will occupy at least two full weeks, he said.

In a tort claim, DeArkland sought $25.1 million in damages from Placer
County. The search of his home caused DeArkland's heart to malfunction, he
wrote. He entered a hospital for treatment, the claim says.

Claims by Sanborn and Sandbank alleged improper search and emotional
distress, and sought $1 million apiece. A claim by Sanborn's relative,
Lyman H. Sanborn III, sought $50,000. Miller's claim, for property damage
only, sought $12,353.