REDDING MAN DIES BEFORE POLICE RETURN HIS POT

Redding criminal attorney Jeffrey C. Stotter called a news conference
Monday at the Redding Police Department so cameras would be rolling
when his client got back the 17 pounds of pot police had been holding
as evidence for three years.

Members of the media showed up. So did Stotter. But Donald Longwood,
the 71-year-old Redding resident whose marijuana was about the be
returned wasn't there.

That's because, unbeknown to Stotter, Longwood had died.

"At least he was around to see the charges against him dismissed,"
Stotter said after finding out the news by phone from his secretary,
who had called Longwood's home to ask why he hadn't shown up for the
news conference.

Longwood died Aug. 21 at Mercy Medical Center in Redding from natural
causes, according to Allen & Dahl Funeral Chapel in Anderson, the
mortuary that handled funeral arrangements.

"He was a great old guy," Stotter said.

Longwood had been charged in January 2007 with planting and
possessing marijuana with the intent to sell it. Longwood had claimed
it was legal for him to possess the marijuana under California's
medical cannabis laws. A month before his arraignment, Redding police
seized 17 pounds of pot from Longwood's home.

The case was delayed several times, partly due to Longwood's poor health.

Stotter said Longwood had been in a wheelchair and had suffered a
heart attack, which caused his case to be put off for a number of months.

Stotter said the case was put off again to wait for appellate courts
rulings on whether there was a limit on the amount of marijuana
patients could claim for medical use.

Shasta County Superior Court Judge James Ruggiero dismissed the case
in January at the request of the Shasta County district attorney's office.

Last month, Ruggiero ruled that Longwood's marijuana had to be returned.

Redding Police Sgt. Mike Thomas said the department's evidence
technician did her best to help those at Stotter's law firm. The firm
had been surprised to learn that there was so much marijuana a cart
was needed to haul it around, Thomas said.

Thomas said police were unaware Stotter had called a news conference
to cover the return of Longwood's pot.

"This is nothing personal," Thomas said of Longwood's case. "This is
based on the ever-evolving law on this issue. ... It's in no way part
of a personal crusade" against medical marijuana.

Thomas said he wasn't sure what would happen to the pot, but those in
charge of managing Longwood's estate may be able to claim it as one
of the dead man's assets.

Stotter said the pot is so old, its value to Longwood may have been
more symbolic.

"I'm not sure to the extent it's been preserved," Stotter said. "It's
been in police custody for three years."