COUNTIES AT ODDS IN MARIJUANA COURT CASE

Conflict between Mendocino and Alameda county officials persists more than
a month after two Berkeley residents were arrested near Willits on
suspicion of possession and transportation of some 44 pounds of marijuana.

Winslow Norton, 24, and Jessica Gibson, 20, both of Berkeley, were pulled
over for traffic violations at 11:45 p.m. April 12 on Highway 101,
according to the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office.

Deputies detected the odor of marijuana and conducted a vehicle search,
MCSO incident reports state, discovering packaged marijuana for sale and
$2,280 in cash.

Norton and Gibson were booked into jail on suspicion of possession and
transportation of marijuana for sale.

Michael Norton -- Winslow's father -- attempted to post their bail with
$150,000 in cash, according to the Mendocino County District Attorney's
Office. The cash was confiscated as a product of suspected criminal activity.

"(The money) smelled like marijuana and was being used to bail out people
being held on marijuana charges. (Norton's) bail was increased to $150,000
and there was a bail hold call to make sure they weren't being bailed out
with illegal income," Deputy District Attorney Matt Finnegan said.

Norton and Gibson posted bail April 18, six days after they were arrested.

According to their attorney, Bill Panzer, there is a serious issue of
request for discovery as Norton and Gibson were pulled over as a pretext
stop for driving under the influence.

"It is written up as a DUI investigation, and we don't believe that it was
a DUI stop. They were allegedly pulled over for DUI charges and there were
no DUI tests done. No field sobriety no blood tests."

"They were driving right at the speed limit, using cruise control. The
police report states they were weaving within their lane and went over the
center line once. They are basically pulling people over on pretext charges
and looking for marijuana."

Panzer said he has filed a Pitchess motion to request information regarding
past reports on the deputies involved in the arrests. A Pitchess motion can
be sought by a defendant to access the personnel file of an arresting
deputy, which includes internal affairs investigations, citizen complaints
and other records.

Norton owns a cannabis cooperative -- Compassionate Collective of Alameda
County -- which is legally recognized by the Alameda County Board of
Supervisors and Sheriff's Office, Panzer said.

"The case has to raise questions. In a typical drug dealing case, you don't
get a letter from the Board of Supervisors stating that their operation is
legitimate. You don't get a call from the sheriff's office saying they are
cleared in Alameda County," Panzer said.

In regard to the $150,000 confiscated by deputies, Panzer said his client
has never been served with a notice of the seizure.

"The money belongs to the cooperative and the statute (Prop. 215)
specifically states people can join co-ops to provide their own medicine
and they have immunity from sales and transportation (of marijuana),"
Panzer said.

"The co-op always keeps a war chest. Given what is going on politically and
the raids that have been conducted, they keep an amount for obtaining
medicine and an amount for potential legal problems such as this."

In accordance with Prop. 215, cannabis cooperatives are not able to sell
marijuana for profit, but Panzer said the money from Norton's "war chest"
is distributed back to the members of the co-op every fiscal year.

As the counselors prepare for the preliminary hearing scheduled for June
15, they will meet on June 13 for the Pitchess motion hearing to address
Panzer's request to obtain personnel files of the arresting deputies.

"I certainly expect that this case is unusual enough that they should have
raised a red flag and they should have done more investigation," Panzer said.

"Transportation and possession (of marijuana) is what they were charged
with," Finnegan said. "Those are the relevant charges and that is what I
will be pursuing during the prelim."