Pubdate: Fri, 01 Jun 2001
Source: Auburn Journal (CA)
Copyright: 2001 Auburn Journal
Contact:  http://www.auburnjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/530
Author: Gus Thomson, Journal Staff Writer
Related: http://www.kubby.com/
Related: http://www.letfreedomgrow.com/

D.A. WANTS KUBBY HIT WITH FELONY CONVICTIONS

State Attorney General To Appeal Court Decision

The state Attorney General's Office plans to appeal a Placer County 
Superior Court judge's decision to reduce medical marijuana advocate Steve 
Kubby's convictions on magic mushroom and peyote possession charges from 
felonies to misdemeanors.

California Department of Justice information officer Michael Van Winkle 
said the county District Attorney's Office request for state prosecutors to 
appeal the decision by Judge John Cosgrove has been approved "on a 
preliminary basis" with no filing date yet set in appeals court.

The next step for the Attorney General's Office is to file a brief, Van 
Winkle said.

Kubby, 54, was sentenced in March to 120 days in jail. He is scheduled to 
start serving the term July 20. Marijuana-possession-for-sale charges were 
dismissed after a mistrial was declared and the District Attorney's Office 
chose not to proceed with a second trial. A former Libertarian Party 
gubernatorial candidate, Kubby said the 265 pot plants found in his home 
were for medicinal use under Proposition 215.

Kubby's public defender Julie Mumma said she has requested all transcripts 
of the three-month trial in anticipation of the appeal.

An appeal would allow the defense to challenge the legality of the initial 
search at Kubby's Olympic Valley home, she said.

"We are prepared to litigate this matter all the way, paid in full by 
Placer County," Mumma said in a news release from the American Medical 
Marijuana Association. Mumma couldn't be reached for comment.

Kubby said the appeal allows the defense to receive "thousands of dollars 
of transcripts for free that we would have otherwise had to pay for."

"We are anxious to post the entire trial transcript to the Net, so other 
patients can use our tactics and motions," he said.
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