JURORS IN CHICO MEDICAL MARIJUANA CASE TO BE SHIELDED FROM PROTESTERS

SACRAMENTO - Amid concerns that protesters outside Sacramento's federal
courthouse could compromise the prosecution's case against the operator of
a Chico medical marijuana dispensary, a federal judge has ordered that
jurors be transported to his courtroom from an undisclosed, remote location
before each session.

This week's two days of peaceful protests were spurred by U.S. District
Judge Frank C. Damrell Jr.'s decision denying defendant Bryan James Epis
the use of a medical marijuana defense, in which Epis alleged federal
offenses could be lessened by the circumstances in which they were committed.

In this case: compassion, supporters say.

"Us patients are out here for a reason: We have convictions about this, and
it's not just out of medical necessity, it's our spiritual and political
convictions," said protester Mike Rogers of Cohasset, who faced similar
cultivating charges in 1999, but was acquitted in state court two years later.

Pointing to a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, Judge Damrell refused the
defense an opportunity to base its case on a medical marijuana defense to
explain away Epis' conduct of providing pot to seriously ill patients.

"The Supreme Court is crystal clear on this issue," he said. "No medical
marijuana defense will be allowed."

At the center of controversy is state Proposition 215, the 1996
voter-approved ballot measure that allows the medical use of marijuana with
a physician's signed recommendation. Federal law, however, conflicts,
forbidding the use of cannabis products, including pot, for any purpose.

"We are here showing our support for medical marijuana clubs, protesting so
the federal government recognizes that (California) voters approved Prop.
215 in 1996," said "Medical Mike" Nelson of Paradise, a member of the Butte
Alliance for Medical Marijuana in Chico.

In a four-count federal indictment, Epis is accused of conspiring to
manufacture at least 1,000 marijuana plants near a school - Chico High
School - a crime which carries a mandatory 10-year prison sentence. He is
also accused of manufacturing 100 plants, which carries an obligatory
five-year federal prison term.

But Epis, who says he uses marijuana for neck pain resulting from a
near-fatal traffic crash, argues he had the right to dispense marijuana to
seriously ill patients, who came to him with written permission from their
doctor -- stipulations, which he argues, are affirmed by the electorate.

"We crossed all of our Ts, dotted all of our Is," Epis said of his
organization, the Medical Marijuana Caregivers, which he co-founded in Chico.

"We did all the things that Prop. 215 requires. We were even in the process
of setting it up as a non-profit organization," he said.

Even though he was indicted in 1997, Epis said in a court recess interview
Wednesday that he was not charged until January, after he refused Asst.
U.S. Attorney Samuel Wong's offer of four years in prison in return for
pleading guilty to growing 100 plants.

Epis maintains that Wong's predecessor on the case offered him four months
house arrest if he pled guilty, not the 10 years Wong now seeks.

On Monday, concerned that a potential jury pool was tainted by pro-medical
marijuana, anti-jury leaflets, Damrell dismissed a prospective panel,
subsequently seating an official jury Wednesday, and ordering them not to
speak about the case.

Justifying his decision to bus jurors, Damrell said if they see the
leaflets or banners displayed along Sacramento's busy "I" Street, it could
"chill their objectivity" and "erode their impartiality."

While prosecutor Wong sought a gag order to prevent the case from being
"tried in the press," the judge denied the request, but admonished jurors
to remained silent.

"If the jurors see that there is a mandatory (10 year) sentence, I don't
see how the government can receive a fair trial," argued another federal
prosecutor, calling on Damrell to further shroud jurors from that message.

While Epis' attorney, the renowned barrister J. Tony Serra, denied the
35-year old Chicoan and law graduate had any control over the protesters,
Damrell said Wednesday that it seems to him that "there is a degree of
control," which if proven could exacerbate Epis' legal troubles.

"If there is a connection, this is building up into a serious matter ... of
criminal contempt," Damrell warned.

The court will hear opening arguments today.