AREA MAN SUES OVER MARIJUANA PHOTOS

Glenn Miller Says Store Violated Civil Rights By Giving Cops Pictures

MONTEBELLO -- Four days after a Whittier man was arrested when a drug store
developed his photographs of his backyard marijuana crop and turned them in
to police, a Montebello man had the same thing happen to him.

However, while Joseph Lee Louis Thompson, 26, of Whittier has been charged
with simple misdemeanor possession, Glenn Randall Miller, 42, of Montebello
is now facing three felony counts that could put him away for life if
convicted, his attorneys said Thursday.

Miller's attorneys appeared with him at a news conference at his mobile
home in Montebello to announce a lawsuit filed by him against Sav-On, the
chain that developed Miller's pictures and gave a duplicate copy to
Montebello police.

The suit accuses the retailer of violating Miller's civil rights.

"This is an issue of privacy," said Joseph L. Lisoni, Miller's attorney.
"He is dying and the marijuana was simply to relieve him of his pain and
get his appetite back."

Officials for Sav-On had no comment on the suit.

Miller, who appeared extremely thin, said he has emphysema, heart disease,
back injuries and a blood pressure problem. In addition, he had stomach
surgery about a year ago, he said.

"I was taking those pictures in hopes of getting a prescription from my
doctor," Miller said. "But now, with criminal charges pending against me, I
can't."

In Thompson's case, Rite-Aid developed photographs he says he intended to
send to a pro-marijuana magazine. Thompson posed next to his backyard crop,
smelling a mature bud.

Miller did not pose with his plants, said Fred Witherspoon, who is
representing him in the criminal matter. "This individual did not appear in
them and there was no relation to where he lived," he said.

Miller is scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 11 on one felony count of
possession of marijuana and two felony counts of possession for sale. If
convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in a state prison, said Lisoni.

"He wasn't selling it," Witherspoon said. "There were only two plants."

Meanwhile, Thompson faces a maximum penalty of 6 months in county jail and
a $5,000 fine if convicted of misdemeanor possession. He is due in court
for a pretrial hearing on Jan. 9.

"We want to warn the public about Sav-On," Lisoni said. "Our privacy is now
at risk at Sav-On Drug Stores. We tried to settle this case without a
lawsuit because Mr. Miller only has a few months to live, and they
absolutely refused to discuss it. Their attitude was 'too bad, so sad.'
Now, they've made a federal case out of it."

Thursday morning, Sav-On's attorneys had the case shifted from state court
to federal jurisdiction, he said.

The suit asks for an unspecified amount of damages.