TRIAL BEGINS IN POT GROWING CASE

Defendant's Lawyer Says Deputies, DA Didn't Follow Law.

For the next week, a Pueblo jury will consider whether Pueblo County
Sheriff's deputies erred when they raided a medical marijuana farm
off Siloam Road in western Pueblo County in August 2007, or if
deputies and the district attorney were justified in destroying more
than 120 plants and charging the farmer with cultivation and possession.

On Tuesday, the jury heard opening arguments in the case against
Thomas Sexton, 55, who claims he was legally growing the plants
under Colorado's medical marijuana law and provided the sheriff's
office with documentation justifying the number of plants on the property.

Sexton's attorney, Karl Tameler, told the jury that deputies
disregarded a sign on the property informing people that it was a
medical marijuana farm and offering contact information - including
Sexton's - for anyone who had questions about why the plants were there.

Tameler further argued that the sheriff's deputies were trespassing
on the property when they found the plants, that they made no
attempt to contact any of the people listed on the sign, made no
mention of the sign to the judge when they requested a search
warrant and destroyed the plants in violation of the Colorado Constitution.

Finally, Tameler suggested that the criminal charges his client is
facing are retaliation to a lawsuit Sexton filed against the county
for destroying his property. "This is not about Mr. Sexton growing
marijuana. It's about what the government did in its ignorance,"
Tameler said. "This is a sad case to bring to you. At its conclusion
you will be concerned about a number of things, the least of which
is Mr. Sexton."

Deputy District Attorney Anthony Marzavas argued that the only
information deputies found on the property suggesting the farm was
for medical marijuana was a makeshift sign from the Colorado
Compassion Club listing 10 clients with a maximum of three plants
per client grown on the property.

"Three plants for each of those 10 (names) makes 30 plants,"
Marzavas said. "The initial count was 136 plants in the area."

Marzavas also aggressively objected to Tameler's argument that the
criminal charges were somehow a retaliation against Sexton for his
civil suit against the county.

District Judge David Crockenberg supported most of Marzavas'
objections. But Tameler was allowed to make the inference anyway, by
noting that the charges weren't filed against Sexton until more than
a year had passed since the raid.

Sexton is also the owner of MediMar Ministries, a company trying to
open a medical marijuana dispensary in the Mesa Junction.

The trial continues today.