POOR POLICE WORK ALLEGED IN POT CASE

Attorneys for medicinal-marijuana advocate Peter Baez on Wednesday
continued questioning witnesses in an attempt to scuttle the criminal case
against the former head of a San Jose-based marijuana dispensary.

During a day of testimony, San Jose police officers fended off questions
intended to portray their March 23 raid of the Santa Clara County Medical
Cannabis Center as sloppy yet overzealous. If defense attorneys can
convince Superior Court Judge Diane Northway that the search was improper,
they may be able to gut much of the case against their client.

One of the officers conceded that his sworn affidavit contained a
misstatement. Under questioning from both defense attorney Gerald Uelmen
and prosecutor Rob Baker, Sgt. Tim Kuchac testified that it was simply a
mistake.

But Uelmen seized on that testimony to criticize the officer, saying it was
symptomatic of other problems in the search. ``I was blown away,'' Uelmen
said. ``I have very few instances in my life as a lawyer where I had a
police officer admit on the stand to perjury.''

Baker, however, said the overall testimony showed the officers balanced
concern for the center's patients with their need to investigate possible
wrongdoing.

Baez, 35, ran the now-defunct cannabis center for about a year.

He and his colleagues had a cordial relationship with police until an
investigation into one man's defense against illegal marijuana use raised
questions about whether Baez was obtaining doctors' recommendations before
selling the drug.

The investigation that followed has led to seven felony charges against
Baez: grand theft, maintaining a drug house and five counts of illegal
marijuana sales.

On Wednesday, Kuchac was asked about his affidavit, which came after the
original search warrant had been served. His statement was used to obtain a
warrant to seize a center computer. He testified that no important evidence
was taken from the machine.

Kuchac stated in his affidavit that he was part of the team that served the
first warrant and noticed a computer that could have contained business
records and other key evidence. He testified Wednesday that that was not
true. He had never been to the center before signing the affidavit, he said.

Under questioning from Baker, Kuchac testified that it was routine for the
Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office to prepare affidavits for
officers and that he inadvertently missed the discrepancy.

But Uelmen put a more ominous spin on Kuchac's statement, saying that
Kuchac needed to say he had been present to persuade a judge to expand the
original search.

Attorneys also finished questioning Sgt. Scott Savage, the lead
investigator in the case. Savage testified that he had no vendetta against
Baez, one of the defense's main contentions.

Uelmen, a Santa Clara University law professor, asked Savage again about
the timing of the raid. He and co-counsel Tom Nolan have contended that
Savage waited to raid the club until then-Chief Lou Cobarruviaz had left
office, saying Cobarruviaz looked favorably on Baez and medicinal marijuana.

But Savage testified that he doesn't know if he knew when Cobarruviaz was
going to step down and that there was no formal department policy on
medicinal marijuana.

Checked-by: Richard Lake