Pubdate: Wed, 11 Aug 1999 Source: Sacramento Bee (CA) Copyright: 1999 The Sacramento Bee Contact: P.O.Box 15779, Sacramento, CA 95852 Feedback: http://www.sacbee.com/about_us/sacbeemail.html Website: http://www.sacbee.com/ Forum: http://www.sacbee.com/voices/voices_forum.html Author: Wayne Wilson, Bee Staff Writer Related: http://www.kubby.com/ AILMENT POSTPONES KUBBYS' DRUG CASE Medical Marijuana Trial Reset For Feb. 15 The drug trial of former Libertarian candidate for governor Steven Kubby was postponed Tuesday when his wife and co-defendant, Michele, was confined to bed by doctors, who cited complications related to her pregnancy. Placer County prosecutors objected to the continuance -- which will delay the high-profile trial for more than six months -- but visiting Judge Robert G. Vonasek ruled that it would be judicially inefficient to proceed against Steven Kubby now and try his wife separately. The Kubbys are charged with two counts of conspiracy, possession of marijuana for sale, cultivation of marijuana and five other drug possession counts following the Jan. 19 discovery of 265 plants at their home in Squaw Valley. The couple contend their indoor garden was grown for medicinal purposes. A 52-year-old cancer patient, Steven Kubby was a Libertarian candidate for governor in 1998 who played an instrumental role in the 1996 passage of Proposition 215, a ballot measure that allows for the doctor-recommended use of marijuana for medicinal purposes in California. He claims that pot has kept him alive for 15 years. Michele Kubby, 33, had been using marijuana with a physician's endorsement to treat a chronic stomach ailment until she learned she was pregnant. Law enforcement officials say the Kubbys' marijuana garden was more than a personal-use nursery. There were just too many plants, insist prosecutors, whose expert witness testified in a preliminary hearing that the plants were "definitely possessed or cultivated for the purpose of sale." Experiencing abdominal pain and difficulty sitting and standing last week, Michele Kubby consulted her physicians over the weekend and, according to letters submitted by the doctors to the court, was restricted to bed. On Tuesday, with Michele Kubby absent and a jury panel waiting in the courtroom, the defense requested a continuance, pointing out that the defendant's prior pregnancy had ended in miscarriage. Vonasek found good cause for a continuance and set a tentative new trial date for Feb. 15. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake