MEDICINAL-POT CASE GOES ROUND AND ROUND; NEW JUDGE DISMISSES CHARGES

Drug charges against four people connected with a defunct medicinal
marijuana clinic in Hillcrest were dismissed yesterday -- again.

In what has become a game of judicial pingpong, San Diego Superior Court
Judge Michael Wellington ruled that Judge William Mudd was correct in
dismissing the charges "in the interest of justice" several months ago.

Mudd ruled Sept. 5 that clinic workers had done everything they could to
abide by a change in state law legalizing the use of marijuana for
medicinal purposes, which he said is hopelessly convoluted.

But Mudd was reversed in November by another judge, Howard Shore, who said
Mudd "abused his discretion" by dismissing the case.

Mudd was then forced to reluctantly resume hearing the case and ordered the
defendants to stand trial.

But yesterday Wellington said Mudd was within his rights to dismiss the
case. He also found that the workers had been denied their legal rights in
the judicial tug of war and he dismissed the charges.

"For the moment, we are in the driver's seat," said Michael McCabe, lead
attorney for the clinic workers.

Deputy District Attorney Josephine Kiernan said the decision will be
appealed. "We've had three judges give three different rulings," Kiernan
said. "Now we'll ask an (appellate court) panel of three judges to decide
the case."

The case revolves around Proposition 215, a 1996 measure legalizing the use
of marijuana for medical purposes. Although it is not against the law for a
doctor to recommend marijuana or for a patient to smoke it, it is still
against the law to purchase pot or sell it.

The Hillcrest clinic had been in operation for almost two years when police
shut it down in April. Five clinic workers were arrested after police
recruited someone to make undercover purchases of marijuana totaling $400.
Charges against one of the workers were dismissed by Mudd on separate
grounds in September.

The purchases were made by a former volunteer at the clinic who was the
caretaker for a man suffering from AIDS. The former volunteer agreed to
cooperate with police after detectives unsuccessfully used an undercover
sheriff's deputy.

Clinic officials twice refused to sell to the deputy, first because she
didn't have a doctor's recommendation and then because she presented a
recommendation from a nonexistent doctor.

The defendants were Carolyn Konow and her son, Steven Rohr, co-owners of
the clinic, and Amy Toosley and Daniel O'Neil, who worked there. All faced
marijuana sale and possession-for-sale charges that carry a maximum
six-year prison sentence upon conviction.