Six more medical marijuana cases dismissed

January 20, 2012

After more than a year of courtroom hearings, the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s office told the court it could not move ahead with its cases against six of the dozen arrested in 2010 for selling medical marijuana. [SLONewTimes]

Superior Court Judge Barry LaBarbera on Tuesday dismissed the cases against Christopher and Amy Austin, David and Valerie Hosking, Steven Gordon and Thomas Sandercock.

The court had previously dropped charges against three of the 12 defendants.

In December 2010, the now defunct San Luis Obispo County Narcotic Task Force said that those running pot delivery services were violating California’s Marijuana Compassionate Use Act and Medical Marijuana Program by transporting and selling marijuana “illegally” throughout San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Monterey Counties. At least six agencies and 50 agents participated in the investigation and arrests of 15 people.

During the arrests, one man suffered a heart attack, guns were held to the heads of children as they were dragged from their beds, family pets were kicked, grandparents were handcuffed and forced to lie on the floor and children were removed from their parents’ custody, multiple sources said.

The prosecution said it could not move forward with the case because of a set of jury instructions that allowed the defendants to contend they thought the undercover officer was part of their medical marijuana collectives. Prosecutors said allowing the collective defense would have made their case hard to win.

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