Pubdate: Fri, 21 Mar 2008
Source: Desert Sun, The (Palm Springs, CA)
Copyright: 2008 The Desert Sun
Contact: http://local2.thedesertsun.com/mailer/opinionwrap.php
Website: http://www.thedesertsun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1112
Note: Does not accept LTEs from outside circulation area.
Author: Amy Blaisdell
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

POT SHOP OWNER STACY HOCHANADEL WANTS WARRANT VOIDED

A former Palm Desert medical marijuana dispensary operator and his 
two managers, who are facing trial on drug charges, will ask today 
that a search warrant used in the case be quashed.

Stacy Hochanadel, the former owner of CannaHelp, and managers James 
Campbell and John Bednar, all 31, were arrested in December 2006, and 
charged with felony possession of marijuana for sale, transport and 
sale of marijuana, and keeping a place to sell controlled substances.

The three contend they were running a legal medical marijuana 
business under Proposition 215 and Senate Bill 420. Under California 
law, marijuana can be sold on a not-for-profit basis to patients with 
a doctor's prescription, although it is illegal under federal law.

In ordering the three to stand trial, Judge Eric G. Helgesen of 
Tulare County said Dec. 7 it appeared the defendants violated the law 
because the dispensary was profitable, generating well over $1 
million in sales.

Bednar's attorney, Phillip La Rocca, said Thursday that evidence from 
a search warrant on the dispensary should be ruled inadmissible 
because the affidavit filed in support of the warrant, "misstated the 
law on medical marijuana and was full of conclusions not supported by facts."

According to the affidavit, a sheriff's investigator said 
surveillance of the El Paseo dispensary indicated the customers 
weren't really sick.

"That's something that's not observable, and the magistrate who 
approved the search warrant was misled," La Rocca said.

Marijuana and financial records were seized at CannaHelp, 73359 El 
Paseo, in December 2006 during a raid by the Riverside County 
Sheriff's Department.

During December's preliminary hearing to determine if there was 
enough evidence to order the defendants to stand trial, sheriff's 
investigator Robert Garcia testified that CannaHelp generated $1.6 
million from the sale of marijuana.

He also conceded the defendants never tried to hide their business 
from law enforcement and that it would be unfair to compare them to 
street-level drug dealers.

Garcia testified that an undercover officer twice purchased marijuana 
on the premises for what he said was a back problem.

He also conceded that CannaHelp tried to comply with the law and that 
the dispensary refused to sell to the first undercover officer who 
tried to purchase marijuana because employees could not verify his 
doctor's prescription.

The three defendants have been allowed to remain free on their own 
recognizance on the condition that they do not obtain marijuana in 
excess of what the law allows. All three men are medical marijuana 
cardholders with prescriptions for the drug. They also cannot sell 
the drug or provide it to patients in a care-giving capacity.

If convicted, they could be sentenced to 16 months to two years in 
prison, prosecutors said.
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