Pubdate: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 Source: The Herald, Everett, WA, USA Contact: http://www.heraldnet.com Author: Scott North, Herald Writer Note: You can contact Scott North by phone at 425-339-3431 or you can send e-mail to him at POT GROWER TELLS ALL IN FIGHT OVER LEGAL RIGHTS SEATTLE -- In 1996, Gregory Haynes was named Man of the Year in the tiny Eastern Washington hamlet of Warden. On Tuesday, he sat in a federal courtroom in Seattle and explained in detail how he grew large amounts of marijuana in a Stanwood barn and in five shipping containers buried beneath his uncle's Grant County alfalfa field. Haynes made the admissions as part of a bid to convince U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Zilly to throw out federal drug conspiracy and money laundering charges against him. His pitch was based largely on the federal government's decision to use former Everett private investigator Dale Fairbanks as a key informant in the case. Some of the investigation's targets had previously been represented by Mark Mestel, an Everett defense attorney for whom Fairbanks had regularly worked as an investigator. Haynes and his co-defendant, uncle James Denton, contend Fairbanks' involvement in the case helped the government trample on their rights to a confidential relationship between lawyers and clients. Federal prosecutors, however, have argued that no attorney-client confidences were breached, partly because the alleged pot growers criminally abused their relationship with Mestel in earlier legal proceedings. Zilly on Tuesday heard his fourth full day of testimony in the case, which has probed allegations of fraudulent documents being filed in court and the delivery of small amounts of marijuana to Mestel. Closing arguments, and the judge's decision, are expected today. Haynes testified Tuesday with the understanding that prosecutors would legally be unable to rely on his testimony as their chief evidence against him at trial. Haynes testified that from 1994 to 1997, he paid Mestel several thousand dollars for legal representation, and believed the attorney-client relationship extended to Fairbanks as well. The Warden man said that when his Stanwood pot farm caught fire in 1994, one of the first things he did was make sure that Mestel represented him and potential codefendants. He also dismantled his underground marijuana farm in Warden. But Haynes testified he resumed growing marijuana underground there in 1997. He said he felt safe because Fairbanks told him law officers had ceased investigating the 1994 Stanwood case. "Dale told me everything was fine," Haynes said. "It was a done deal. ... That he was my 'in,' and could protect me." By that time, Fairbanks had already been working as a government informant for about a year. Under questioning from assistant U.S. attorney Doug Whalley, Haynes acknowledged that he felt Fairbanks shared some of the blame for the Warden marijuana farm being reactivated. Fairbanks testified tearfully last week that he decided to assist the government in its investigation after Haynes attempted to recruit him into criminal activity and used him as a conduit for sending Mestel small amounts of marijuana. Haynes also testified about the drug deliveries Tuesday, but said Mestel didn't ask him to send the pot, and never acknowledged receiving any. Mestel last week testified that Haynes sent him marijuana, but said he threw away, and turned away, the drug.