Pubdate: Sun, 02 Jun 2013
Source: Mail Tribune, The (Medford, OR)
Copyright: 2013 The Mail Tribune
Contact:  http://www.mailtribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/642
Note: Only prints LTEs from within it's circulation area, 200 word count limit

ABOVE AND BEYOND THE CALL

Police Apparently Timed Pot Raids to Lock Up Defendants for As Long As Possible

No matter what you think of medical marijuana, and without making any 
assumptions about guilt or innocence, it's fair to say local police 
agencies displayed an excess of zeal in raiding local pot 
dispensaries late last month.

Defendants Leland and Lori Duckworth, David James Bond, 44, and 
Michael Robert Schanno, 40, were jailed May 24 after officers from 
several local police agencies raided dispensaries in Medford and Gold 
Hill. Each was charged with multiple felony counts of conspiracy to 
deliver marijuana.

In addition, the Duckworths face charges of conspiracy to deliver 
marijuana within 1,000 feet of a school -- in their case, a private 
preschool on North Oakdale Avenue that opened after they established 
a dispensary on West Sixth Street. Proximity to a school adds 
stricter punishment under state drug laws.

Distributing marijuana to patients who hold a medical marijuana card 
is not against state law in Oregon, as long as the person doing the 
distributing is licensed under the Medical Marijuana Program. It is 
illegal, however, to sell medical marijuana for a profit. Growers and 
others are permitted to recover only their actual costs.

Police say the arrests capped a two-year investigation involving 
undercover purchases of marijuana and the use of confidential 
informants who told investigators that marijuana was being sold 
outside the medical marijuana program guidelines.

All of that may be true. The defendants in this case may be guilty of 
crossing the line between legal and illegal transfer of marijuana.

The way the arrests were conducted, however, suggests police went out 
of their way to make the process as unpleasant as possible for those 
they arrested.

Court records show a Jackson County grand jury issued arrest warrants 
in the case on Wednesday, May 22, but the raids and arrests took 
place two days later.

After a two-year investigation, police could have raided the 
storefronts on any day they chose. The operations clearly weren't 
going anywhere.

But police chose to make the arrests the day before a state furlough 
day, when the courts were closed, which in turn preceded a three-day 
weekend. With bail for the defendants set as high as $550,000, that 
meant they likely would spend at least four days in jail before a 
bail hearing could be held.

On Tuesday, a Jackson County Circuit judge refused to reduce the bail 
amounts. It wasn't until Thursday that a second judge agreed to 
drastically reduced bail amounts -- a full week after the arrests. 
This in a jail where people accused of more serious crimes are set 
free on a daily basis.

Again, the defendants in this case may be guilty of selling marijuana 
for profit -- still a felony under Oregon law. The courts will determine that.

What seems clear is that police were determined to send a message.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom