A former star prosecutor who admitted providing sensitive information to Orange County's biggest methamphetamine dealer was released from custody Monday after almost three years of imprisonment. Bryan Ray Kazarian, 37, left federal court in Santa Ana on Monday evening to cheers and hugs from more than 60 friends and relatives. Kazarian, who wept as he hugged his wife, Tanya, had been held in an undisclosed prison because authorities feared he might become a target of the drug dealer or others. On at least one occasion, he was attacked by a gang member, his lawyer said. [continues 353 words]
Courts: Santa Ana Man Insists He Raises, Smokes Marijuana To Fight Pain. Prosecutors Say He Doesn't Need 60 Pounds. Marvin Chavez freely admits he grows marijuana--and smokes it. He sprouted more than 60 pounds of the stuff in his backyard this year, all in full view of his Santa Ana neighbors. But Chavez does take issue with police accusations that he is a drug seller. At a court hearing Monday, 46-year-old Chavez pleaded innocent to charges of marijuana cultivation and possession for sale, and insisted he only raised and smoked the plants to fight the pain of a rare spinal disorder. Chavez is president of a local cannabis club and a key backer of the statewide proposition that legalized the use of marijuana for medical use. Two years ago, he was convicted on similar charges in a high-profile case that is still working its way through the court system. [continues 249 words]
Crime: $1 Million Of John Ward's Property May Be Seized. His Parents Also Face Prison. A jury Wednesday convicted a man described by authorities as Orange County's largest methamphetamine dealer, whose enterprise was so powerful that it had a deputy district attorney as a tipster and generated weekly sales sometimes exceeding $1 million. John Ward, 30, of Orange was found guilty of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute "ice" methamphetamine as well as cocaine, prescription pills and ephedrine. The jury's verdict caps a five-week trial in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana and a federal investigation that included more than 12,000 hours of wiretapped conversations, discussions that revealed the inner workings of the drug network. [continues 589 words]
Drugs: Sheriff's Deputies Hack Down 2,000 Plants Cultivated With An Ingenious Irrigation System And Hidden By Trees On Remote, Nearly Vertical Terrain. To hear narcotics investigators tell it, whoever cultivated more than 2,000 marijuana plants in rugged Trabuco Canyon was part botanist, part camouflage expert and part mountain goat. Toiling for months on the plantation, the growers hiked up near-vertical slopes in the Cleveland National Forest, hauling young seedlings and irrigation hoses with them, then digging terraces into the canyon slopes to sow their crops. [continues 591 words]
Drugs: Anonymous Tip Leads Authorities To What Might Be O.C.'S Largest Crop Deep In Cleveland National Forest. Tipped off by an anonymous caller, authorities Thursday uncovered what appears to be Orange County's largest marijuana farm hidden amid the sharp mountain ridges and desolate canyons of Cleveland National Forest. More than a dozen Orange County Sheriff's deputies hiked three hours through thick stands of beaver tail cactus and live oak before discovering some 2,000 fully grown marijuana plants in a rugged area near the Orange County-Riverside County border. [continues 478 words]
Profile: Jurist James Gray, A Vocal Critic Of The Nation's Drug Laws, Is Often At The Center Of Controversial Cases. He describes himself as a conservative judge in a conservative county. But many of those who have watched the career of Orange County Superior Court Judge James P. Gray said his approach to the job is anything but traditional. His record--part rebel, part reformer, part conciliator--has kept him in the limelight. A decade ago, Gray's call for the legalization of drugs prompted the county sheriff to quip, "What was this guy smoking." and a fellow judge openly questioned his impartiality on the narcotics issue. But Gray hasn't backed down. And now, he finds himself at the center of two more high-profile cases that have kept him very much on center stage. [continues 1064 words]
About 40% do not complete treatment, leading some judges and prosecutors to fear the measure is too lax to ensure compliance. As Proposition 36 takes effect across the state, officials are viewing with concern an Orange County pilot program in which 40% of defendants who received drug treatment failed to complete the program. More than 700 defendants have taken part over the last few months in what was designed as a transition to the treatment programs that thousands of drug offenders statewide are now eligible for under the voter-approved initiative. Roughly 300 of the participants did not complete the treatment because they stopped showing up for meetings, began using drugs again or were arrested for new drug offenses. [continues 776 words]
