STONED -- AGAIN -- IN COURT

Medical marijuana providers James and Lisa Masters and their lawyers
enjoyed a 20-second victory in court on May 14, before a judge
dismissed most of their latest round of motions. Larimer County Chief
Judge James A. Hiatt ruled that a drug task-force officer illegally
searched the Masters' house, but he then refused to throw out the
evidence gathered during a follow-up search.

The Masters are charged with possession and intent to distribute
marijuana, stemming from a child-welfare check at their home on
August 2, 2006. At the time, the couple advised county child
protection staff and accompanying police that they were medical
marijuana caregivers and agreed to allow them into their grow rooms.
The couple was arrested. Then Det. Todd Brubaker arrived and entered the home.

The drug task force later used Brubaker's report to gain a search
warrant and confiscate the plants, which the Masters claimed as
medicine for 30 patients (Read "High noon," from the January 17 issue).

"The police cannot engage in deception, and that is what they did,"
Masters' co-counsel Rob Corry argued at the recent hearing, adding
that the warrantless search was a violation of the Fourth Amendment
to the U.S. Constitution.

Deputy District Attorney Michael Pierson responded that probable
cause had been established when the child-welfare staff saw the
marijuana plants.

Judge Hiatt only partly agreed with the defense claim. Although the
Masters "basically were tour guides" during the child-welfare check,
Hiatt said, Brubaker acted illegally by searching the house without
consent or a warrant. But the judge ruled that evidence gathered
after the warrant was issued is still admissible during the upcoming
June 4 trial, which the Masters' lawyers are calling a
precedent-setting case for Colorado medical marijuana providers and patients.

The defense attorneys say they plan to file yet another motion,
because the warrant was mostly based on the evidence gathered during
the illegal search.

"This is the fourth motion we're having, so it shows you the extent
to which the state will go to prosecute medical marijuana patients,"
says Brian Vicente, another attorney representing the Masters.

The Masters' lawyers also asked Judge Hiatt to drop the
intent-to-distribute charges, arguing that state laws regulating
marijuana distribution are "unconstitutionally vague." Hiatt ruled
against the motion, saying the matter is an issue of proof that will
be decided during the trial.