MEDICAL POT CASE HEADED TO TRIAL

The arrest of a medical marijuana grower is set to go to trial next
month after District Judge Jim Boyd tossed out some evidence but
refused to dismiss the case altogether.

Boyd ruled that some of the plants seized in Jennifer Ryan's arrest
at her Rifle home can't be used as evidence at trial because of
mishandling by officers in the Two Rivers Drug Enforcement Team.

But other plants can, he ruled, and he refused Ryan's motions to toss
out the case or all the evidence.

Boyd criticized TRIDENT officers for destroying important evidence
and burying plants in a landfill, even after learning that the
state's Medical Marijuana Amendment required them to preserve the
plants until the case was resolved.

"To the extent TRIDENT's actions arose from ignorance of the
constitutional provision, nearly four years old at the time of the
investigation in this case, TRIDENT's actions were not an innocent or
good faith mistake," he wrote.

The case could affect two others that have been delayed awaiting an
outcome in this case. Ryan's husband Gene Brownlee is accused of
growing and possessing pot with the intent to distribute. He said he
is allowed to smoke marijuana to deal with a chronic esophagus
ailment. His cousin Justin Brownlee is accused of unlawful
cultivation. Family friend Drew Gillespie pleaded guilty earlier to
cultivation and is on two years' probation.

TRIDENT officers arrested them last July as the couple was moving
into the apartment. Ryan admitted the plants were hers, but said she
was allowed to have them because she was a licensed medical marijuana
caretaker for five clients, including her husband. She's pleaded not
guilty to cultivating marijuana.

When TRIDENT officers collected smaller plants from the home, they
saved the entire plants. Those may be admitted, Boyd said.

When they collected larger plants, though, they saved only a leaf,
threw out the rest and dumped the plants in a landfill. Boyd ruled
that jurors may see only the leaves but none of the photos, videos or
other evidence about the whole plants.

Contacted at a court hearing in Glenwood Springs, Assistant District
Attorney Vince Felletter declined to comment about how the ruling
might affect his case.

"I'm not talking to you guys. Start printing the truth," said
Felletter, whose office has been at the center of critical stories in
local newspapers.

"It's a double-edged sword," Ryan's attorney, Kristopher Hammond, of
Steamboat Springs, said of Boyd's ruling. "I think it's going to
impact both sides. Obviously, the state is not going to have the
evidence of a large grow operation."

Police may still have most of the evidence. Hammond said he didn't
know how many plants would be allowed as evidence, but in an
interview last year, Ryan's husband said only about 20 of the plants
were large plants and about 110 were cuttings.

Central to the case will likely be whether cuttings count as plants.
Ryan allegedly had five state caregiver certificates, which would
have allowed her to have 30 plants according to the voter-approved
2000 amendment legalizing medical marijuana.

Investigators say they found 131 plants, including the small
cuttings, far in excess of what she's allowed.

"Those are the only things we're going to be arguing about," Hammond
said. "I haven't looked at (the plants). They could be dried up,
shriveled up little toothpicks."

A jury could decide either way, Boyd said, but jurors might not be
able to make a decision if they can't see the whole plant. By
destroying some of the plants, he ruled, police took away Ryan's
ability to argue about whether or not they were viable.

"That's the big question in this case," said Hammond, who maintains
that small cuttings taken from other plants don't constitute
marijuana plants because they may not survive on their own.

Hammond unsuccessfully asked Boyd to toss out the entire case, or all
the evidence, as a sanction for police violating the amendment.
Officers said they uprooted the plants and smashed them before they
knew about the constitutional provision, then after learning about
it, buried the plants in a landfill.

Boyd refused to dismiss the case but was still critical.

"At the time the evidence was taken to the landfill, TRIDENT knew or
should have known the number of plants would be important in
determining whether or not a crime occurred," he wrote.

Former Deputy District Attorney Jeff Cheney had argued officers were
acting on good faith and said Ryan's medical marijuana argument was a
disguise for an illegal growing operation.

Boyd issued his written ruling Monday. A four-day trial is set to
start June 14 in Glenwood Sprins.