Pubdate: Fri, 30 Jan 2004
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2004 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author:  Mike McPhee, Denver Post Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

LAWYER: STATE LAW PREVAILS IN MEDICAL MARIJUANA CASE

A Steamboat Springs lawyer argued before a federal judge Thursday that law 
enforcement officers who confiscated a cancer patient's marijuana were not 
acting under federal authority.

Thus, argued attorney Kristopher Hammond, they were subject to state law 
and should be held in contempt for not returning the marijuana to the patient.

But Department of Justice attorney Michael Hegarty argued that the officers 
who went into Don Nord's apartment in Hayden on Oct. 14 were all deputized 
Drug Enforcement Administration agents acting "under the color" of federal law.

Nord, 57, has a Medical Marijuana Registry card issued by Colorado to smoke 
marijuana for pain related to cancer. Six officers, five of them local and 
one a DEA agent, used a state search warrant to confiscate his pot plants, 
5 ounces of loose marijuana, growing equipment, a pipe and his registry card.

When state prosecutors refused to charge Nord, a state judge told the 
officers to return everything. They did except for the loose marijuana and 
the pipe.

Hammond filed a contempt motion against the six for violating state law and 
a judge's order to return the drug. A contempt hearing is scheduled for 
Monday. But Hegarty moved the case to federal court this week.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom