Pubdate: Fri, 21 May 1999 Source: United Press International Copyright: 1999 United Press International HIGH-PROFILE POT CASE BEFORE JURY SACRAMENTO, Calif., May 21 (UPI) - A case that could set a precedent for how federal judges handle a California law allowing the medical use of marijuana has gone to the jury. The panel deliberating the case today heard yesterday from the defense's final witness, actor Woody Harrelson, who got into an angry exchange with U.S. District Judge Garland Burrell Jr. Harrelson, who first gained fame on the "Cheers" TV sitcom, bridled under Burrell's exclusion of the state's Proposition 215 as a defense for the actor's friend, 52-year-old B.E. Smith of Trinity County. Burrell had said federal law doesn't make an exception for marijuana use under doctor's care, and refused a defense request to remove himself from the trial. Harrelson was called as a character witness for Smith. At one point, Burrell ordered the actor to stop ignoring his guidelines or be placed under arrest. Harrelson said, "I'm just wondering why you're keeping the truth from the jury," in a reference to Proposition 215, the initiative passed by the voters in 1996 that allows doctors to prescribe marijuana for the relief of pain and other symptoms. Ordered to leave the stand, the actor shot back, "How do you sleep at night?" in a suggestion that the judge lacked conscience. Harrelson said he met defendant Smith at a 1996 protest on Golden Gate Bridge to demand protection for the Headwaters redwood grove. He also once posted a $500,000 bond for a cancer patient facing criminal marijuana charges. Smith was charged in 1997 after officers seized an 87-plant marijuana garden. He said he used the drug by prescription as a cure for alcohol abuse. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D