ROCKLIN COUPLE FACE RETRIAL ON CONTROVERSIAL POT CHARGES

Prosecutors in Placer County announced Thursday they will retry a Rocklin
dentist and his wife on marijuana possession-for-sale charges, despite the
minority vote they received from a jury at the couple's first trial in May.

Deputy District Attorney David H. Tellman obtained a Nov. 9 date for the
retrial of the controversial case against Michael W. Baldwin, 36, and
Georgia A. Baldwin, 35, who contended that the 146 marijuana plants found
at their Granite Bay home Sept. 23 were for medicinal uses. A mistrial was
declared May 12 when the prosecution received only 11 of the 24 votes it
needed to convict both Baldwins of growing the weed for sale to others.

The jury was split, 6-6, in the case against Baldwin but favored acquittal
of his wife, 7-5.

Tellman and his boss, District Attorney Brad Fenocchio, based their
possession-for-sale case on the number of plants being grown and the
discovery of a digital gram scale and empty boxes of baggies found in the
Baldwins' residence.

There was no evidence that the couple actually sold or attempted to sell
their crop, Tellman acknowledged during the first trial.

Also found at the Baldwins' home last September were letters from a
physician recommending marijuana as a treatment for Michael Baldwin's
migraine headaches and back pain and for Georgia Baldwin's migraines and
endometriosis.

Judge James D. Garbolino ruled that the Baldwins were exempt from
prosecution for cultivating marijuana under provisions of Proposition 215,
the Compassionate Use Act of 1996.

But he said the ballot initiative does not apply to possession-for-sale
cases, so he permitted that question to go to the jury.