Judge Bars Witness in Simi Pot Suit

A judge refused to allow testimony Tuesday from a so-called expert witness in the false-arrest suit brought against police by a Simi Valley man once arrested for growing too many marijuana plants for his medical use.

After a hearing without the jury present, Judge Kent Kellegrew ruled that self-described marijuana expert Chris Conrad could not testify that police acted unreasonably when they arrested Rex Dean Jones in 1998 for growing more than the two plants permitted by the Simi Valley Police Department’s medical-use guidelines.

Jones’ attorney, J. David Nick, argued that the guidelines were flawed because they were based on recommendations from then-Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren, who vociferously opposed the medical marijuana initiative, Proposition 215.

While the proposition does not specify how many plants an ill person may cultivate, Lungren recommended that law enforcement agencies hold people in violation of the law if they possess more than two plants.

Lungren’s reasoning, Nick said, was based on the assumption that one marijuana plant produces one pound of the drug, something, Nick said, that “no one could reasonably believe.”

“That’s like saying the Earth is flat,” Nick said.

Conrad was expected to testify that even under the most ideal circumstances one plant can only produce five ounces of the drug, and that Lungren’s recommendations were based more on his political opposition of the law approved by voters in 1996.

Lungren was the unsuccessful Republican nominee for governor in 1998.

“Lungren enacted the guidelines to make life miserable for patients,” Nick told Kellegrew.

But the judge said any type of scientific accuracy was not relevant. Instead, he said, the jury needs to consider whether the arresting officers acted under the belief Jones was violating the medical marijuana law.

Nick protested Kellegrew’s ruling, saying he would have no way to show the jury that one plant can’t produce one pound of marijuana.

“The officers can’t just live in this little cubicle of the Simi Valley Police Department and ignore the other information that is out there,” Nick said.

Kellegrew responded that Jones had other ways to persuade the jury he wasn’t growing more than he needed for his diabetes and hypertension.

Indeed, after a break Nick called Jones to the stand, and Jones testified he had never gotten more than four ounces of pot from any of his backyard plants.

Ventura County prosecutors eventually dropped all charges related to the marijuana cultivation after confirming with Jones’ physician that he is a qualified medicinal marijuana patient.

Jones is seeking unspecified damages for his arrest and brief incarceration. During his testimony Tuesday, Jones, a 64-year-old retiree, began to tell about his arrest at home and his subsequent booking.

His testimony is expected to conclude today, and the case will very likely go to the jury in the afternoon.