MEDICAL MARIJUANA CASE SETTLED BEFORE TRIAL

After more than a year of litigation, San Andreas resident and
medical marijuana patients' rights advocate Jay Smith pleaded no
contest Jan. 28 to one misdemeanor count of aiding and abetting
another person in committing a felony.

Smith, 38, was initially charged with three felonies after he sold an
ounce of marijuana to a member of the Calaveras County Sheriff's
Office who was working undercover on Jan. 4, 2010.

According to Deputy District Attorney Seth Matthews, the initial
charges were for sales, cultivation and possession of marijuana.
"This still feels like a loss to me," Smith said. "To plead guilty to
anything when you have not broken the law leaves a person feeling
very sad and powerless."

In his defense, Smith said the undercover deputy used a legitimate
medical marijuana recommendation to join Smith's K Care Collective
and appear legitimate.

The recommendation belonged to Robert Shaffer of Ione, who was
arrested in 2009 on drug charges. According to reports, Deputy Steve
Avila had taken possession of Shaffer's recommendation and used it to
convince Smith that he was in fact Shaffer in the weeks leading up to
the sting operation.

Shaffer later filed an official complaint against the Sheriff's
Office, stating that he had not given anyone permission to use his identity.

Smith adamantly denied that he had broken the law from the very
start, claiming that he was legally operating a medical marijuana
collective in compliance with state law when he sold the marijuana to
the undercover deputy, who he thought was Shaffer.

Sheriff Dennis Downum said that Smith was executing a drug deal
instead of operating a legitimate collective.

"Quite frankly, it doesn't sound like he was any part of a
collective," Downum said in 2010. "With a collective there has to be
a relationship of some sort. It can't be meeting somebody in a
parking lot. In our opinion, you're just selling drugs."

Matthews summarized the case Wednesday by saying it came down to a
basic difference of opinion about the intent of the law.

"My view is under the law you need a relationship between a member of
the collective and a person not simply meeting in a parking lot and
saying, 'Sign my papers and pay market price for the marijuana,'"
Matthews said.

"I didn't think he would go to state prison over this."

That being said, Matthews said that state prison was a possibility in
Smith's case.

As to why Matthews was willing to make a plea deal for only one
misdemeanor when the initial charges were three felonies, he said
there were potential issues with the case.

"There were always potential problems of proof about Proposition 215.
That was the reason for the deal." Matthews said he also considered
that even if the case went to trial and the district attorney won on
everything, the eventual sentence might not be that different than
what he bargained for in the plea deal.

Smith will serve 90 days in jail and pay a $160 fine without being
subject to probation.

When he adds up the money he spent to defend himself and the losses
he sustained through K Care Collective, Smith said it's about $45,000.

"Had I had the resources, I would have taken this to trial," Smith
wrote. "That said, I am certainly glad it's over."