Pubdate: Mon, 17 Dec 2001
Source: Siskiyou Daily News (CA)
Copyright: 2001 Siskiyou Daily News
Contact:  http://www.siskiyoudaily.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/668
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)

FISHER'S LEGAL WOES MOUNT

YREKA - After three full days of testimony in a violation of probation 
hearing filed against Klamath River resident Steven Ray Fisher, Judge 
Robert Kaster found Fisher in violation of his felony probation and ordered 
him to return to court on Jan. 18 for sentencing.

Fisher has been on probation since August 2000 after a jury found him 
guilty of being a felon in possession of an illegal weapon and ammunition.

He was also charged with theft by false pretenses, cultivation of 
marijuana, possession of marijuana and transportation of marijuana for 
sale, but was either acquitted or the jury was unable to reach a decision 
on those charges.

He was sentenced to serve 120 days in the county jail, but has never served 
that sentence, awaiting the outcome of his appeal. He was also placed on 
three years felony probation which required him to obey all laws and 
subjected him to a warrantless search by any peace or probation officer 
during his period of probation.

Fisher's problems with his probation officer began last summer when a 
helicopter fly-over discovered a marijuana garden on his property on the 
Klamath River.

A Siskiyou County sheriff's detective came to the property and found 
marijuana growing in pots along the front steps and walkway, and rows of 
marijuana in a garden behind Fisher's house. Fisher admitted to 65 plants 
in the garden and 31 plants inside and said he had established a marijuana 
co-op for people with prescriptions for medical marijuana.

He estimated the number of people in the co-op at that time at 15, but when 
asked to show proof of prescriptions for the membership, he refused.

On a second trip to Fisher's home in July, two detectives and Fisher's 
probation officer found his marijuana production to have increased to 156 
plants in an outdoor garden, 30 plants inside his house, and another indoor 
grow room under construction in the attic.

Fisher again said he was growing marijuana for members of his co-op, but 
would not identify the members of the co-op or provide copies of their 
prescriptions. Two detectives returned again in October to find 207 plants 
in Fisher's outdoor garden, some over 7 feet tall. By that time, membership 
in his co-op had increased to 28.

Again, Fisher was asked for copies of prescriptions for these people, and 
refused to cooperate.  [Fisher says that he offered to transmit the info to 
a neutral third party, but not law enforcement - D.G.]

"Cultivation, possession for sale, sales and transportation of marijuana 
are all illegal. What we have is 209 plants that range from 1/3 to 1 lb 
each for a co-op that he states he was hired to grow for.

That is illegal," said Deputy District Attorney Steve Larson. Possession of 
marijuana under the Compassionate Use Act is available to people with a 
doctor's prescription for an amount reasonably related to their medical needs.

Fisher told his probation officer that he was hired to grow marijuana for 
members of his co-op, but according to Larson, "There is no law that says a 
co-op is somehow exempt from the law."

Fisher's lawyer presented testimony from a number of people who were 
members of Fisher's co-op. All of them testified they had prescriptions for 
medical marijuana and had signed a contract with Fisher that for $150 and 
providing part of the work to grow the marijuana, they would receive one 
ounce of marijuana per week for a year.

The majority of the members obtained medical prescriptions from a doctor 
referred to them by Fisher and who saw them one time at a lodge in Klamath 
River.

A sheriff's detective testified that telephone records show there is no 
telephone listing for an office for that doctor in Klamath River.

Two of the co-op members testified at Fisher's violation of probation 
hearing that he personally delivered marijuana due to them under the terms 
of their contract; one saying Fisher had delivered marijuana to her in 
Yreka that very day he had given her a ride to court to testify at this 
hearing.

Robert G. Schmidt testified to being the CEO of Genesis 1:29, a non-profit 
corporation based in Petaluma that over the past five years has grown and 
distributed medical marijuana to qualified patients.

Schmidt testified he was doing this with the approval of the district 
attorneys of Mendocino and Sonoma Counties; however, the district attorney 
in both of those counties told the Daily News they have no knowledge of 
anyone named Schmidt or Genesis and had not given approval to any marijuana 
distribution group to operate in their counties.

Larson submitted documents from the federal Drug Enforcement Agency saying 
every application by Genesis 1:29 to operate with their approval has been 
withdrawn and they have no authority to operate as a distribution center 
for marijuana in California.

Schmidt testified that his corporation has 11 farmers operating in three 
California counties, one of whom is Steve Fisher. In spite of Fisher's 
commitments to the co-op members in Siskiyou County, Schmidt testified he 
and Fisher agreed that Genesis 1:29 would receive 30 percent of Fisher's 
2001 crop.

People from Genesis 1:29 trucked over 100 plants from Klamath River to 
Petaluma.

Schmidt admitted to a felony conviction in federal court for smuggling over 
ten tons marijuana into the United States between 1973 and 1978 and 
admitting to serving time in a federal prison for it.

Much was made of a new 4 x 4 diesel pickup that Schmidt admitted that 
Genesis 1:29 purchased for $38,000 which Fisher is now driving. Schmidt 
also testified he has made mortgage payments for some of his other growers.

"This operation on its face sounds very altruistic," Larson said, "but the 
reality is there is a great deal of money being exchanged between the 
growers and Genesis 1:29."

Larson played a videotape of a Channel 4 news broadcast showing enough 
marijuana to fill two railroad cars hanging to dry at Schmidt's Petaluma 
facility. Fisher stated in that video that 184 of those plants were grown 
by him in Siskiyou County and he hoped to make enough where he could expand 
his operations next year.

To complicate Fisher's probation problems, a Happy Camp woman testified 
that things started to change as soon as Schmidt arrived at Fisher's property.

At that point, the woman quoted Fisher as saying he would only provide 
marijuana to co-op members who paid for it, despite the provisions of their 
co-op agreement. If he needed to deliver it, Fisher said he would be 
charging a $35 delivery fee.

The woman testified that no one in the co-op knew anything about Fisher's 
arrangement with Schmidt and to her knowledge, after Fisher's entire crop 
was taken to Petaluma, there is no marijuana left for co-op members. She 
estimates the value of the crop taken by Schmidt from Klamath River to be 
near $600,000.

The last witness at Friday's violation of probation hearing was a member of 
the co-op from Happy Camp. In addition to the $150 membership fee he paid 
Fisher, he testified he donated another $250 over the last year for 
Fisher's legal fund because he thought "Steve would end up right where he 
is. I expected him to be in jail by now." The man said he had received 
marijuana three or four times over the past year, but did not connect it 
directly with each donation.

Fisher has a prescription for medical marijuana which he received from the 
same doctor many of the co-op members saw when the doctor was in Klamath River.

Larson pointed to a statement at the bottom of Fisher's prescription which 
he signed that says, "I understand that cannabis remains illegal under 
federal law."

Fisher's attorney said Fisher had made "extensive efforts to comply with 
California law and his probation conditions.

"Whatever has happened here has not happened because Mr. Fisher decided to 
violate the law. What this comes down to is whether these co-ops are legal 
or not. This co-op ran on the same principle as the Jamestown Settlement in 
1710," Fisher's lawyer said.

In this case, Larson said Fisher was the co-op. The marijuana went 
somewhere else and is now being held in Petaluma for safe keeping. "This is 
a ruse, pure and simple in an attempt to get around the law," Larson said.

Before making his ruling, Kaster said a very important issue in this case 
is the legality of marijuana co-ops.

"I do not find any legal basis to support Mr. Fisher's co-op in the manner 
that it actually existed. We have a very loose, unstructured proposition 
that enabled him to grow a large number of marijuana plants which are, in 
effect, illegal in the state of California," the judge said.

"The lack of structure is precisely the problem that we have here. We still 
have a controlled substance and a market for a controlled substance which 
makes for a lot of opportunity for profiteering and fraud," Kaster said.

Kaster ruled that Fisher was in violation of his probation by failing to 
follow the reasonable instructions of his probation officer by refusing to 
provide copies of prescriptions for co-op members; by cultivating 
marijuana, which is a felony; by possessing marijuana for sale, which is a 
felony; and by maintaining a place for unlawfully providing controlled 
substances which is an express violation of Fisher's probation order.

After the judge found Fisher in violation of his probation, Larson asked 
that he be remanded into the custody of the jail to serve the 120-day 
sentence originally ordered in this case. However, because that issue is 
still up on appeal, Kaster was not willing to do that.

After the hearing, Larson said Fisher could be sentenced to up to three 
years, eight months in state prison as a result of his probation violation, 
depending upon the recommendations of his probation officer in an updated 
report.
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