Pubdate: Fri, 26 Mar 2010
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 2010 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.signonsandiego.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/386
Note: Seldom prints LTEs from outside it's circulation area.
Author: Greg Moran

JURY ACQUITS DISPENSER OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA

SAN DIEGO COURTS -- A jury acquitted a medical marijuana collective 
operator of drug possession and sales charges yesterday.

The acquittal of Eugene Davidovich after two weeks of trial in front 
of Superior Court Judge Kenneth So is the second time in the past 
four months that juries have found medical marijuana operators not 
guilty of drug charges.

In December, Jovan Jackson, who was the manager of a medical 
marijuana dispensary in Kearny Mesa, was acquitted of five counts of 
possessing and selling the drug. Davidovich's case had become an 
important cause among medical marijuana proponents.

District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis has aggressively pursued medical 
marijuana dispensaries and collectives that she contends are not 
complying with Proposition 215, the voter-approved initiative that 
legalized the drug for medical purposes.

Davidovich, a former software developer, was charged with selling the 
drug to an undercover officer posing as a patient in November 2008 
with a doctor's prescription for the drug. The transaction was 
captured on videotape. Davidovich insisted he had done nothing wrong 
and believed that the man he sold the marijuana to was a legitimate 
patient and the purchase was part of the legal operations of the 
collective. In phone conversations before the transaction he had 
emphasized that the purchase was being done as part of the 
collective's work and for no other reason, said Davidovich's lawyer, 
Michael McCabe.

Jurors acquitted him of four charges relating to the transaction, 
which was part of a larger investigation of medical marijuana 
collectives dubbed Operation Green Rx, McCabe said.

"The jury saw this for what it was," McCabe said. "They thought it 
was a trumped up case from the get-go."

Deputy District Attorney Theresa Pham could not be reached for 
comment on the verdicts. Steve Walker, a spokesman for the District 
Attorney's Office, said the outcome is "disappointing, but we respect 
the jury's verdict." 
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