FISHER'S LEGAL WOES MOUNT

YREKA - After three full days of testimony in a violation of probation
hearing filed against Klamath River resident Steven Ray Fisher, Judge
Robert Kaster found Fisher in violation of his felony probation and ordered
him to return to court on Jan. 18 for sentencing.

Fisher has been on probation since August 2000 after a jury found him
guilty of being a felon in possession of an illegal weapon and ammunition.

He was also charged with theft by false pretenses, cultivation of
marijuana, possession of marijuana and transportation of marijuana for
sale, but was either acquitted or the jury was unable to reach a decision
on those charges.

He was sentenced to serve 120 days in the county jail, but has never served
that sentence, awaiting the outcome of his appeal. He was also placed on
three years felony probation which required him to obey all laws and
subjected him to a warrantless search by any peace or probation officer
during his period of probation.

Fisher's problems with his probation officer began last summer when a
helicopter fly-over discovered a marijuana garden on his property on the
Klamath River.

A Siskiyou County sheriff's detective came to the property and found
marijuana growing in pots along the front steps and walkway, and rows of
marijuana in a garden behind Fisher's house. Fisher admitted to 65 plants
in the garden and 31 plants inside and said he had established a marijuana
co-op for people with prescriptions for medical marijuana.

He estimated the number of people in the co-op at that time at 15, but when
asked to show proof of prescriptions for the membership, he refused.

On a second trip to Fisher's home in July, two detectives and Fisher's
probation officer found his marijuana production to have increased to 156
plants in an outdoor garden, 30 plants inside his house, and another indoor
grow room under construction in the attic.

Fisher again said he was growing marijuana for members of his co-op, but
would not identify the members of the co-op or provide copies of their
prescriptions. Two detectives returned again in October to find 207 plants
in Fisher's outdoor garden, some over 7 feet tall. By that time, membership
in his co-op had increased to 28.

Again, Fisher was asked for copies of prescriptions for these people, and
refused to cooperate. [Fisher says that he offered to transmit the info to
a neutral third party, but not law enforcement - D.G.]

"Cultivation, possession for sale, sales and transportation of marijuana
are all illegal. What we have is 209 plants that range from 1/3 to 1 lb
each for a co-op that he states he was hired to grow for.

That is illegal," said Deputy District Attorney Steve Larson. Possession of
marijuana under the Compassionate Use Act is available to people with a
doctor's prescription for an amount reasonably related to their medical needs.

Fisher told his probation officer that he was hired to grow marijuana for
members of his co-op, but according to Larson, "There is no law that says a
co-op is somehow exempt from the law."

Fisher's lawyer presented testimony from a number of people who were
members of Fisher's co-op. All of them testified they had prescriptions for
medical marijuana and had signed a contract with Fisher that for $150 and
providing part of the work to grow the marijuana, they would receive one
ounce of marijuana per week for a year.

The majority of the members obtained medical prescriptions from a doctor
referred to them by Fisher and who saw them one time at a lodge in Klamath
River.

A sheriff's detective testified that telephone records show there is no
telephone listing for an office for that doctor in Klamath River.

Two of the co-op members testified at Fisher's violation of probation
hearing that he personally delivered marijuana due to them under the terms
of their contract; one saying Fisher had delivered marijuana to her in
Yreka that very day he had given her a ride to court to testify at this
hearing.

Robert G. Schmidt testified to being the CEO of Genesis 1:29, a non-profit
corporation based in Petaluma that over the past five years has grown and
distributed medical marijuana to qualified patients.

Schmidt testified he was doing this with the approval of the district
attorneys of Mendocino and Sonoma Counties; however, the district attorney
in both of those counties told the Daily News they have no knowledge of
anyone named Schmidt or Genesis and had not given approval to any marijuana
distribution group to operate in their counties.

Larson submitted documents from the federal Drug Enforcement Agency saying
every application by Genesis 1:29 to operate with their approval has been
withdrawn and they have no authority to operate as a distribution center
for marijuana in California.

Schmidt testified that his corporation has 11 farmers operating in three
California counties, one of whom is Steve Fisher. In spite of Fisher's
commitments to the co-op members in Siskiyou County, Schmidt testified he
and Fisher agreed that Genesis 1:29 would receive 30 percent of Fisher's
2001 crop.

People from Genesis 1:29 trucked over 100 plants from Klamath River to
Petaluma.

Schmidt admitted to a felony conviction in federal court for smuggling over
ten tons marijuana into the United States between 1973 and 1978 and
admitting to serving time in a federal prison for it.

Much was made of a new 4 x 4 diesel pickup that Schmidt admitted that
Genesis 1:29 purchased for $38,000 which Fisher is now driving. Schmidt
also testified he has made mortgage payments for some of his other growers.

"This operation on its face sounds very altruistic," Larson said, "but the
reality is there is a great deal of money being exchanged between the
growers and Genesis 1:29."

Larson played a videotape of a Channel 4 news broadcast showing enough
marijuana to fill two railroad cars hanging to dry at Schmidt's Petaluma
facility. Fisher stated in that video that 184 of those plants were grown
by him in Siskiyou County and he hoped to make enough where he could expand
his operations next year.

To complicate Fisher's probation problems, a Happy Camp woman testified
that things started to change as soon as Schmidt arrived at Fisher's property.

At that point, the woman quoted Fisher as saying he would only provide
marijuana to co-op members who paid for it, despite the provisions of their
co-op agreement. If he needed to deliver it, Fisher said he would be
charging a $35 delivery fee.

The woman testified that no one in the co-op knew anything about Fisher's
arrangement with Schmidt and to her knowledge, after Fisher's entire crop
was taken to Petaluma, there is no marijuana left for co-op members. She
estimates the value of the crop taken by Schmidt from Klamath River to be
near $600,000.

The last witness at Friday's violation of probation hearing was a member of
the co-op from Happy Camp. In addition to the $150 membership fee he paid
Fisher, he testified he donated another $250 over the last year for
Fisher's legal fund because he thought "Steve would end up right where he
is. I expected him to be in jail by now." The man said he had received
marijuana three or four times over the past year, but did not connect it
directly with each donation.

Fisher has a prescription for medical marijuana which he received from the
same doctor many of the co-op members saw when the doctor was in Klamath River.

Larson pointed to a statement at the bottom of Fisher's prescription which
he signed that says, "I understand that cannabis remains illegal under
federal law."

Fisher's attorney said Fisher had made "extensive efforts to comply with
California law and his probation conditions.

"Whatever has happened here has not happened because Mr. Fisher decided to
violate the law. What this comes down to is whether these co-ops are legal
or not. This co-op ran on the same principle as the Jamestown Settlement in
1710," Fisher's lawyer said.

In this case, Larson said Fisher was the co-op. The marijuana went
somewhere else and is now being held in Petaluma for safe keeping. "This is
a ruse, pure and simple in an attempt to get around the law," Larson said.

Before making his ruling, Kaster said a very important issue in this case
is the legality of marijuana co-ops.

"I do not find any legal basis to support Mr. Fisher's co-op in the manner
that it actually existed. We have a very loose, unstructured proposition
that enabled him to grow a large number of marijuana plants which are, in
effect, illegal in the state of California," the judge said.

"The lack of structure is precisely the problem that we have here. We still
have a controlled substance and a market for a controlled substance which
makes for a lot of opportunity for profiteering and fraud," Kaster said.

Kaster ruled that Fisher was in violation of his probation by failing to
follow the reasonable instructions of his probation officer by refusing to
provide copies of prescriptions for co-op members; by cultivating
marijuana, which is a felony; by possessing marijuana for sale, which is a
felony; and by maintaining a place for unlawfully providing controlled
substances which is an express violation of Fisher's probation order.

After the judge found Fisher in violation of his probation, Larson asked
that he be remanded into the custody of the jail to serve the 120-day
sentence originally ordered in this case. However, because that issue is
still up on appeal, Kaster was not willing to do that.

After the hearing, Larson said Fisher could be sentenced to up to three
years, eight months in state prison as a result of his probation violation,
depending upon the recommendations of his probation officer in an updated
report.