POT GROWER WINS RULING IN BUTTE COUNTY LEGAL FIGHT

A California Court of Appeal handed down a ruling Wednesday in favor
of a Butte County man ordered to destroy several marijuana plants he
grew on his property as part of a medical marijuana collective to
which he belonged.

The 3rd District Court of Appeal denied a writ of mandate petition
filed by Butte County to strike down an earlier trial court's ruling
in the case of David Williams, 56, who belonged to a seven-member
collective of medical marijuana users who contributed money and labor
to grow the plants they used for treatment, according to the ruling.

Williams was ordered by a Butte County sheriff's deputy in September
2005 to destroy 29 of the 42 marijuana plants the collective grew on
Williams' Paradise property.

Williams complied, but later took the county to court, arguing his
right to due process and against unreasonable search and seizure were
violated because the deputy did not have a search warrant and the
cultivation of the plant was permissible under Proposition 215, which
legalized marijuana for medicinal use.

The county argued that Williams should have allowed himself to be
arrested by the deputy and fought the ruling in criminal court.

It also argued that the protections of Proposition 215 do not allow
for collective growth of marijuana.