BALDWIN DRUG TRIAL POSTPONED UNTIL MARCH

A drug trial with Proposition 215 medical marijuana overtones involving a
Rocklin dentist and his wife has been put off until March.

In the meantime, the Placer County District Attorney's Office and attorneys
for Michael and Georgia Baldwin will attempt to sort out exactly what
charges the two will go to trial on.

Both sides were in court Friday, with prosecutors seeking a ruling on
whether a simple possession of marijuana charge could be added to the
possession of marijuana for sale charge the Baldwins are already facing.

The Baldwins were charged in September 1998 with growing marijuana for sale
after a search of their rural Granite Bay residence uncovered 146 marijuana
plants and 58 grams of loose marijuana. In May, a mistrial was declared
after a jury could not decide whether the couple had the marijuana with the
intention of selling it. Both possessed physicians' recommendations to use
marijuana for medical purposes.

Two weeks before the hung jury, Placer County Superior Court Judge James
Garbolino had ruled the couple's circumstances showed they were growing the
marijuana within the guidelines of Prop. 215, the state's 1996 Compassionate
Use Act.

After the jury deadlocked 6-6 for Michael Baldwin's conviction and voted 7-5
for Georgia Baldwin's acquittal, the District Attorney's Office refiled the
possession of marijuana for sale charge. But it also filed a charge of
simple possession -- a misdemeanor.

Representing the Baldwins, attorneys Tony Serra and David Nick called on
Judge James Roeder on Friday to throw the second charge out. Both said
Garbolino had ruled against the charge in the summer because it was a lesser
included charge to the cultivation allegation.

Roeder said he would agree to the amendment of charges that would include
the possession charge but wouldn't rule on its legality. Instead, he
referred the attorneys back to Garbolino for an interpretation and possible
decision.

Roeder also set a new date for the retrial, which was to have started Nov.
9. Because of scheduling conflicts, the trial is now slated to begin March 21.