Pubdate: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 
Source: Modesto Bee, The (CA)
Copyright: 1999 The Modesto Bee.
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Author: Jim Miller and Ron DeLacy Bee staff writers 

CALAVERAS MAN CONVICTED OF CULTIVATING MARIJUANA

SAN ANDREAS -- A Calaveras County man who claimed he grew marijuana
for medicinal purposes was convicted Thursday of cultivating pot, but
jurors deadlocked on a charge of possession of marijuana for sale.

Authorities arrested Robert Galambos in July 1997, after finding 382
young marijuana plants and about 6 pounds of bagged marijuana at his
home in Paloma, western Calaveras County.

Galambos claimed his marijuana cultivation was for medical reasons --
to treat lingering pain from a car accident a decade ago that
fractured his skull, as well as to supply an Oakland cannabis club
under the auspices of Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Initiative.

The trial began March 17, and the jury started deliberating Wednesday
afternoon and returned with its single verdict about 3:30 p.m.
Thursday. Galambos will be sentenced May 14; he faces punishment
ranging from probation to three years in prison, prosecutor Seth
Mathews said.

Mathews said he was pleased with the verdict. He would not say whether
the district attorney's office would retry Galambos on the possession
for sale count.

But defense attorneys said they were "anguished" by the jury's
decision because it sets back efforts to legitimize the use of
marijuana in treating illness.

"We feel that more people are going to be prosecuted because of this,"
attorney Shari Greenberger said, "especially in areas like Calaveras
County where there is zero tolerance."

Passed by voters in 1996, Proposition 215 allows people to grow
marijuana if they obtain a doctor's recommendation for it. "Primary
care givers" can grow it for people who have the doctor's
recommendations.

Galambos produced a doctor's note justifying his marijuana use -- two
months after his arrest. And prosecutors charged he had been supplying
the Oakland club for many months before Prop. 215's passage. Moreover,
courts have ruled cannabis clubs are not "primary care givers."

Defense attorney J. Tony Serra said the argument amounted to
"legalizing milk and outlawing the cow." In his closing statement,
Serra urged jurors to effectively declare Galambos a care giver, to
see him as a compassionate man trying to help people.

Serra depicted Calaveras County authorities as anti-marijuana zealots
who routinely and joyfully rip out pot plants from anybody, no matter
what they claimed or produced as medical reasons.

Investigators insisted that isn't the case, that legitimate medical
users are left alone.

"You can accuse me of being a cop all you want," sheriff's deputy
Eddie Ballard said during a court recess, "but you can't accuse me of
not being a person."

Prosecutors offered Galambos a settlement with a lesser punishment,
but it would have required Galambos to accept a felony conviction. He
desperately wanted to avoid that because it could wreck his hopes to
pursue a career in special education.

He had the backing of his own Columbia College child-development
teacher, Phyllis Greenleaf, who attended his trial. During a recess,
she said Galambos was one of her best students, and had been doing
exemplary work with pre-schoolers as part of his training.

"He is thoughtful, considerate, sensitive and intelligent," she said.
"We need more people like him going into child development, and if he
couldn't be a teacher it would be a tremendous loss to society."

Greenberger said defense attorneys will argue May 14 that Galambos
should be sentenced to home detention or a work-release program.
Mathews would not discuss his intentions.
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