Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here
Posted on 05/30/2005 5:52:17 PM PDT by freepatriot32
On May 16, a judge in Placer County, Calif., refused to hear a motion by medical marijuana patient Steve Kubby -- who believes he can establish compelling evidence that county authorities committed fraud in 1999 to obtain a search warrant against him.
Kubby, the Libertarian Party's candidate for California governor in 1998, has lived in Canada with his wife, Michele, since he was convicted in December 2000 for drug law violations in Placer County. He used -- and still uses -- marijuana to control the symptoms of adrenal cancer, which he fought with surgery and conventional medicine before discovering that marijuana was a more effective treatment.
Cancer specialists in both California and Canada have acknowledged that no other medicine will keep Kubby alive, he said in a recent telephone interview from his home in British Columbia.
It was while Kubby was running for governor that the authorities received an anonymous letter about Kubby, prompting them to delve into a six-month investigation while he was on the campaign trail.
Soon after the election, in January 1999, heavily armed police searched the Kubbys' residence. They obtained a warrant by telling a judge that the DEA had identified a visiting journalist as a Jamaican drug smuggler.
The journalist, Pete Brady, later attempted to acquire the DEA's report under the Freedom of Information Act, but was told that no such record existed, according to a brief filed by attorney Bill McPike.
McPike is "currently the winningest medical marijuana attorney in the state of California," Kubby said. "Americans for Safe Access are working closely with Bill because he gets such great results. We've seen lately a number of cases where he has represented patients where he has gotten a return of all marijuana and of course, all charges dropped."
In his brief filed with the court in Placer County, McPike claimed county authorities "willfully and knowingly misled the magistrate" when they testified about the alleged statements from the DEA.
It's no coincidence, Kubby said, that he happened to be a Libertarian candidate who happened to be a medical marijuana patient -- and that the DEA "just happened" to lie to get a search warrant.
"This has been political from the very beginning," he said. "This county is the most Republican county in the state of California. It's a very right wing Republican county, and they went after me with a vengeance. At my trial, they wouldn't even allow Libertarians to serve on the jury, or anyone who was in favor of legalizing marijuana. I'm still outraged that the judge allowed those questions.
"We now know that they lied to a judge in order to get a search warrant to come after me. They relied on this DEA report, and our contention is that unless they can produce this report, they simply lied."
Going into the court on May 16, Kubby said, there was only one question to be asked: "Was a fraud committed upon the court in order to get a search warrant? It all comes back to this arresting officer and Deputy District Attorney lying to a judge to bring down a Libertarian candidate for governor.
"The judge, John Cosgrove of the Superior Court of California, has already said we cannot bring up the issue of fraud upon the court until we can overcome the protests of the prosecution that they do not have to come forward with this piece of evidence.
"That was his decision on April 29. We submitted to him our evidence of fraud, and his decision was that before he could consider that evidence, we had to establish our right to be there in his court -- in other words, they're hiding behind court rules to block an investigation of serious criminal activity by public officials."
At the May 16 court appearance, Judge Cosgrove ruled that Kubby cannot seek a new hearing in that court -- which was the original jurisdiction -- but must return to the state appeals court that affirmed his conviction. He also indicated that Kubby's status as a "fugitive" swayed his decision not to hear the complaint of fraud.
Kubby maintains he and Michele went to Canada with the permission of the court that now says he is a fugitive.
But in any case, if the courts would accede that fraud did occur before his house was searched in 1998, his status as a fugitive would be moot.
"In California, any conviction obtained through a fraud is legally void," Kubby explained. "It's a catch-22, because I've become a fugitive from a conviction that was obtained through a fraud and is void. On top of that, there was a hearing in the Canadian courts that found I am not a fugitive.
"Yes, I refused to comply with probation. But the only thing I'm guilty of is allegedly violating the terms of my probation -- which I was given because of a fraud."
So if Kubby wants to continue pressing the issue -- and he's gone too far to back down now -- he'll have to go back to the appellate court. If he does so, is he confident that he'll have a strong case?
"I believe we can show that a fraud was perpetrated on the California court system," Kubby said. "But predicting the outcome in a case before the courts in the police state that is the United States of America is something we've not been able to do with any accuracy."
For the time being, Steve and Michele Kubby will remain in Canada, where he is allowed by law to grow enough marijuana to keep himself healthy.
"My Canadian doctor has said I need up to an ounce a day, in order to keep my lungs clear and have a healthy life," he said. "I'm licensed right now in Canada to grow 137 plants, to possess up to 13.5 pounds, and to travel anywhere in Canada with two pounds."
But what about his court travails in the United States?
"My legal advisors tell me that today's decision is a victory for several reasons," Kubby said after his May 16 court date. "First of all, this exonerates me by the failure of the district attorney's office and of the court to refute or deny by affidavit evidence the evidence before them. Second, this provides standing for me to sue Placer County officials civilly. And third, under Canadian Law I am now free to pursue business and travel opportunities."
Some Placer County sheriff's deputies are already facing a possible civil trial following an April 19 opinion handed down by a federal appeals court, which cited excessive force by the deputies, and deception and conspiracy on the part of the law enforcement team, according to newspaper reports.
The opinion of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit strongly favors dentist Michael Baldwin and his wife, whose Placer County home was raided in 1998, also on suspicion of marijuana possession.
This raid took place within weeks of the raid on Kubby's home, and the defendants have presented evidence -- apparently considered valid by the federal court, which refused to grant immunity to the deputies named in the case -- that excessive force was used and that the search warrant was obtained illegally.
While the two cases aren't identical, they are similar enough in many respects that Kubby believes he could also seek justice in the civil courts.
"Nobody is safe if the police can make up evidence, the prosecutors can lie, and the court is willing to cover it up," Kubby said. "It's very easy for them to wiggle out of this.
And that's my concern right now. I'm outraged as a Libertarian that anyone in our party was targeted like this -- slandered, brought down -- and I want to see the people responsible for these illegal political acts held accountable."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
''Most people prefer to believe that their leaders are just and fair, even in the face of evidence to the contrary, because once a citizen acknowledges that the government under which he lives is lying and corrupt, the citizen has to choose what he or she will do about it. To take action in the face of corrupt government entails risks of harm to life and loved ones. To choose to do nothing is to surrender one's self-image of standing for principles. Most people do not have the courage to face that choice. Hence, most propaganda is not designed to fool the critical thinker but only to give moral cowards an excuse not to think at all.'' ~ Michael Rivero
ping
Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here
It would be wonderful if, given their flailing to decide on a rationalization for decisions that actually result in freedom from federal intrusion, the 9th came up with a constitutionalist, federalist decision here which stops the DEA that the SupCt could adopt. But we'll see what happens at the appellate level first.
Thanks for the excellent quote. I had never come across it.
You call yourself conservative... why are you so dead set against conserving the God-given RIGHT of an individual to own and control his own body? Why do you, like your statist counterparts of the radical Left, insist that my body, for example, is YOURS to control? I will grant you, for the sake of argument, that recreational use of drugs (INCLUDING the killer drugs, alcohol and tobacco) is not a "good" thing. However, what makes it YOUR business what some other consenting adult puts into his or her body? Except for the notion that somehow you have the "right" to make decisions for others and enforce them at the point of the Government's gun... This totally bogus claim has its roots in the same vile notions of the Leftists you claim to despise so much.
Our Founders gave us a Constitution based on the then-novel notion that WE, THE PEOPLE, are each and individually the owner of our own body; that we are NOT the property of government; that we are completely capable of SELF-RULE and that busybodies like you have no place here in our society.
It has long been my contention that marijuana should be legalized. This step alone would remove it from the underground drug culture and bring it out in to the open. The ability to acquire it would be eased thus removing it as a "gateway" drug for youngsters. Not being introduced into the drug culture would result in fewer young people experimenting with more dangerous drugs. The end result would be less crime and more jail space for more serious crimes.
An excellent quote indeed...
Great post. We need passion.
THAT's why I disagree with all you pot pushin Libertarians... If everyone were an adult and schools weren't filled with dope smokin teachers, some tryin to have sex with juveniles, then you might have a Libertarian Leg to stand on!!!
You're tryin to act like it's already a perfect world, just like the Liberals, so don't be attackin Conservatives who want to raise offspring in the real world!!!
LOL! You're quoting Michael Rivero??? Who's next, Art Bell?
See, there's the problem: you call yourself a "conservative," but what are you trying to CONSERVE if not the Constitution and individual liberty? No, in fact, you are a control freak, just like any other authoritarian statist. You have NOTHING worth conserving if you continue to trash the Constitution and the individual freedoms it protects. All you have is more and more big government and what good is that?
It's not now and never WILL be a perfect world. However, by decriminalizing drugs and setting limits on their sale and possession, JUST LIKE ALCOHOL AND TOBACCO, you can LIMIT if not eliminate that problem. My understanding is that kids can get pot and other drugs far easier than they can booze right now. Is this what you want to see continue??? I don't. Also, by disestablishing the PUBLIC school system and having parents choose AND PAY FOR the private/home school of their choice, you can, as that parent, eliminate the drug-using teachers AND the ones who want to have sex with your kids. These are primarily issues WITH the public school system.
Further, ANYONE who would deny ANY OTHER individual the God-given rights guaranteed by the Constitution (primarily the right to OWN AND CONTROL his or her own body and what goes or does NOT go into it) is no conservative what so ever. DU is always seeking new blood over there, drop in and say hi to your soul mates. I hear ANY control freak is welcome there.
Why don't you work as hard on securing the God given right to control over property one owns as you do the right to stick stuff in your body??? We've got pseudo conservatives on this site with all different kind of stripes. Some are serious, some aren't. Some are consistent, some aren't!!!
I do work on property rights. Also RKBA. ALL rights (and NOT the pseudo "rights" granted by courts and gov't, like the "right" to murder the unborn or the helpless.) It is people like YOU who have no consistency. You want to demand respect for the rights YOU use but deny it to anything else. You do not want YOUR life controlled but are eager to conrol what OTHERS do. I may not like what you do, but as long as it does not involve the UNVOLUNTARY (i.e.: coerced) participation of others and you do not present a danger to me in public places, it is NONE OF MY BUSINESS WHAT YOU DO. And, unlike you, I am willing to recognize that fact and NOT try to use the force of government to compel you to adhere to MY standards. I may try to PERSUADE you to my views, but I may not legitimately use compulsion to get you to see things my way.
You are beating your head against a brick wall here.
Many of the "conservatives" here on FR are only conservatives when you live your life as they tell you to.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.