JUDGE TOSSES OUT MEDICAL USAGE DEFENSE; POT GROWER CONVICTED

A Lake Wildwood man was convicted Tuesday of growing marijuana for sale
after a judge ripped the heart out of his medical-marijuana defense,
cutting short what was expected to be a colorful test case of California's
medical pot law.

Ronald Enos, 54, faces up to six months in jail after prosecutors and his
San Francisco defense attorneys reached a deal to convict Enos on one of
three counts pending against him.

The Nevada County district attorney's office agreed to drop charges of
cultivating marijuana and stealing electricity to power his indoors growing
operation.

Tuesday's deal - which occurred after a lengthy pretrial battle, but before
a jury could be seated - will allow Enos' lawyers to appeal a ruling by
Superior Court Judge Frank Francis that struck down Enos' claims that he
needed marijuana to relieve his chronic pain, and that state laws on
growing medical marijuana was too vague to prosecute him.

"Without a defense, our best bet is to appeal the judge's decision," said
J. Tony Serra, Enos' lead defense attorney. "This submission allows us to
appeal every issue and, in the meantime, Mr. Enos is free.

"If we were lucky enough to win on appeal, this case would have
broad-ranging consequence for all people who are similarly situated," said
Serra, a prominent San Francisco defense attorney and marijuana
legalization activist.

Police arrested Enos in July after finding 91 marijuana plants growing in
buckets in two rooms of his home. Enos said the marijuana was intended for
his personal use and to sell at cost to cannabis clubs, which, under state
law, may distribute the drug to people with certain medical conditions.

However, prosecutors said they were prepared to present evidence that Enos
profited from his growing operation and that, as a consequence, he couldn't
claim a legitimate case under Proposition 215, the voter-approved medical
marijuana initiative.

"We're happy with the result," said county Assistant District Attorney Ron
Wolfson. "We had a trial in the form of motions, essentially an entire
trial in the pretrial phase. We are anxious and interested, as the (state)
attorney general is, in seeing this case go up on appeal so that we can get
resolution to some of the issues that were raised."

Wolfson said the district attorney's office was able to get a conviction on
the most serious charge - growing marijuana with intent to sell - and that
the lesser charges probably wouldn't have made a difference in Enos'
sentence. Wolfson credited staff in the district attorney's office and the
Nevada County Sheriff's Department for their homework leading to Enos'
conviction.

Serra said he was optimistic that he could win the case on appeal because
Judge Francis' ruling Monday was the first decision denying a Proposition
215 defendant a "due process" case - a claim that the state's marijuana law
was so confusing that it shouldn't be used to prosecute someone. State law
is clear that people with certain medical conditions may be prescribed
marijuana to relieve their symptoms, Serra said.

"You can't legalize milk and outlaw the cow," he said.

Enos' trial promised to be an entertaining spectacle. The defense attorneys
- - a prominent group of San Francisco marijuana advocates - had subpoenaed
attorney general and Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Lungren and his
former rival for state office, Dennis Peron, who ran the cannabis club to
which Enos sold his goods.

Prosecutors were prepared to tear into the cannabis club with evidence that
it, far from being a benevolent helper of the chronically ill, was more
like a commercial operation.

"We are confident that the possibility that any particular juror might have
voted for the law (Proposition 215), they would have easily distinguished
the facts in this case from what the law allowed," Wolfson said.

* * * [SIDEBAR] * * *

FAMOUS "ROBIN HOOD" DEFENSE LAWYER BREEZES THROUGH COUNTY COURT

Nevada County got only a taste of the tactics of J. Tony Serra, the
self-styled "Robin Hood" defense lawyer whose clients have included a Black
Panther leader, a Symbionese Liberation Army member and a woman who shot to
death a man accused of molesting her son.

Serra, a charismatic trial attorney based on San Francisco's waterfront,
said he agreed to represent Lake Wildwood pot grower Ronald Enos at no cost
because the lawyer believes that marijuana should be made fully legal.
Enos, soft-spoken and methodical in his testimony, couldn't have presented
a starker contrast to his lawyer, whose graying ponytail swayed as the
defender dramatically enunciated arguments.

No Nevada County jury ever had the chance to witness Serra's style
first-hand. Assistant District Attorney Ron Wolfson, who handled the Enos
case, said he would have relished the chance to match wits with the
legendary attorney and pot advocate.

"It would have been a very interesting case to try," Wolfson said.

Serra has represented Black Panther leader Huey Newton, Symbionese
Liberation Army member Russel Little, molestation-revenge killer Ellie
Nesler, American Indian activist and accused killer Bear Lincoln and a
group of Humboldt County logging protesters whose eyes were swabbed with
pepper spray by sheriff's deputies.

So why Enos?

"I've been doing this from Haight-Ashbury onwards," Serra said of defending
accused marijuana growers and users. "For 30-plus years, I've been a
marijuana activist and believe that it should be wholly legalized."

Serra, who has a doctor's license to use marijuana to relieve job-related
stress, said he decided to try the Nevada County case because Bay area
prosecutors aren't as aggressive in pot cases.

"The Bay area is very tolerant, and they won't prosecute anything," he
said. "If this had been in the Bay area, this probably would have washed
out before the trial."

Serra calls himself a "Robin Hood" lawyer because he uses fees collected
from his wealthier clients to represent poorer people at no cost.