Pubdate: Wed, 06 Dec 2000
Source: Sacramento Bee (CA)
Copyright: 2000 The Sacramento Bee
Contact:  P.O.Box 15779, Sacramento CA 95852
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Author: Ed Fletcher, staff writer
Bookmark: MAP articles on Kubby: http://www.mapinc.org/kubby.htm
Related: http://www.kubby.com/

DOCTORS' TESTIMONY BLOCKED: PROSECUTION LOSES RULING IN KUBBY MEDICAL MARIJUANA CASE

Prosecutors cross-examining medical marijuana user Steve Kubby attacked his
and his wife's need for 265 marijuana plants, but at the end of the day it
was the defense attorneys who were smiling.

After the jury had been excused Tuesday, Placer County Superior Court Judge
John L. Cosgrove ruled that the prosecution could not call two doctors as
rebuttal witnesses.

The doctors had been expected to testify that other, and perhaps better,
medical options existed for Kubby and his wife.

Kubby testified earlier that he began taking marijuana after three
surgeries and chemotherapy failed to cure his adrenal cancer.

"I'm happy because the ruling showed a respect for the law. We are not here
to debate the law," said defense attorney J. David Nick.

Nick estimated that the ruling shaved a week off the trial.

Kubby, 53, and his wife, Michele, are on trial in Auburn on charges of
conspiracy, and cultivation and possession of marijuana plants for sale. A
January 1999 raid on their Squaw Valley home turned up 265 plants in
various stages of growth.

Defense attorney J. Tony Serra joined Nick in arguing against allowing the
doctors' testimony, which they said would force the jury to decide a
question already decided by the voters in Proposition 215.

What medical procedure is appropriate is not a question for the jury, Serra
said.

Earlier Tuesday, prosecutor Christopher M. Cattran questioned Kubby about
the need for 265 plants to provide medical marijuana for just two people.

Cattran also asked Kubby if sheets of paper with identical information
about the drug looked like labels.

"All of that was cut and pasted from seed magazines," Kubby said. "I never
used them as labels. I defy you to find where that was ever used as a
label."

Cattran suggested that the Kubbys had $108,000 in unexplained wealth. He
also questioned Kubby about a psychotropic mushroom found during the raid.

The proceedings were filled with frequent and passionate objections from
the defense, one of which resulted in a $200 fine for Nick.

Nick called the prosecutors' attacks on Kubby's political affiliation with
the medical marijuana movement and the Libertarian Party "dirty pool."

Judge Cosgrove will rule today whether the prosecution will be allowed to
present an additional witness. If not, the case could be in the hands of
the jury by the end of the day.
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MAP posted-by: Eric Ernst