VICTIM'S POT USE AT ISSUE IN ATTACK

A lawyer for one of two young men charged with attempted murder in the
trailer-hitch beating of John Barrymore III and his wife in their Mountain
View home in May indicated Wednesday he intends to use Barrymore's
marijuana use to raise questions about his memory and truthfulness.

Barrymore, the half-brother of actress Drew Barrymore, testified at length
Wednesday, opening a hearing in Santa Clara County Superior Court in San
Jose on whether prosecutors have enough evidence to bring Michael Anthony
Jordan and Jeremy Solito to trial on two counts of attempted murder. Jordan
is a juvenile being tried in adult court.

Deputy District Attorney James Leonard said he believes Jordan, Solito and
four more juveniles arrested in the case were intent on stealing the
marijuana growing in the couple's garage and back yard. Barrymore says his
marijuana is legal because he has a doctor's statement saying he needs it
to alleviate migraine headaches.

Barrymore said two teens came to the door of his home two times that
afternoon. He said they asked whether he was John Barrymore, and asked
about his 16-year-old son, who police believe told high school
acquaintances about his dad's marijuana.

When Barrymore asked, "What's this about?" a man with a goatee rushed him
and reportedly said, "It's about this," and brought an object in a white
sock down on the left side of his head, Barrymore said. He said he fell to
one knee and remembers hearing the person say something about a bomb: "I'm
the bomb, you're the bomb, something like that."

After being hit up to three more times, he said, he fell on his side and
felt a "strange sensation" like an electrical shock, and found that he
couldn't move his body properly, as though he were momentarily paralyzed.
He saw the men run after his wife, Rebecca, and chase her into the kitchen.
She screamed as the second man egged on the violence against his wife,
Barrymore said.

He crawled into the kitchen to find her bleeding and called 911.

Defense attorney John Cahners pointed out that the trailer hitch allegedly
used as a weapon was never found, and said Mountain View police detective
Nate Wanderhuff didn't question witnesses closely enough to determine what
was in the sock.

Cahners also pointed out conflicting testimony by Wanderhuff and Barrymore.
Wanderhuff said police learned that three men came to the door that day --
none of them Solito -- even though Barrymore insisted he saw only two men.
Barrymore said he couldn't say for certain that the two defendants were the
men who attacked him that day, saying everything happened too fast.

Barrymore testified that he didn't smoke any marijuana that day, that he
was busy writing software in his office when the attackers came the second
time.

But Judge William R. Dansler cut off most questions about Barrymore's
marijuana use, saying it might be permissible at trial, but was irrelevant
in the preliminary hearing.