LAKEPORT, Calif. – The case against a Finley farmer and supervisorial candidate and his girlfriend, who were arrested last fall for marijuana cultivation and possession for sale, has been dismissed.
During a Friday morning appearance in Lake County Superior Court before Judge Richard Martin, the case against Phil Murphy and his girlfriend, Cheryl Carr, was dropped.
“It wasn't likely we get a conviction through a jury,” said District Attorney Don Anderson.
Murphy said the issues with law enforcement began when his property was burglarized and he made a report to the sheriff's office.
He said he had previously told law enforcement about the grow. The deputy responding to take the burglary report saw and discussed it with Murphy, who maintained that it adhered to county code.
Lake County Sheriff's deputies subsequently served a search warrant at Murphy's farm in early November, seizing 21 pounds of processed marijuana, 11 pounds of bulk shake and four firearms, as Lake County News has reported.
Murphy and Carr were arrested for marijuana cultivation and the possession of marijuana for sale, with authorities additionally planning to charge them with being in possession of a firearm while committing a felony.
Since the arrest, Murphy joined the race for the District 4 supervisorial seat on the Lake County Board of Supervisors.
Murphy has maintained that he was growing for marijuana patients with valid recommendations, and accused authorities of lying about the case and misrepresenting his statements about his cultivation activities.
He said he attempted to show his documentation to deputies during the search warrant service but they refused to look at it.
Murphy had six recommendations posted at the property. When investigators followed up with those individuals, they were able to confirm that Murphy was, in fact, growing for them, Anderson said.
“He was not in compliance with Measure N, not by a long ways,” Anderson said, referring to the county's voter-approved medical marijuana cultivation ordinance that sets numbers and zoning rules, but added, “We don't enforce Measure N.”
Nor were Measure N-related considerations part of the District Attorney's Office's charging decision, said Anderson.
He explained that his agency strictly follows state law. And while he believes Murphy and Carr were in violation of state law, he didn't think that the case would result in a jury conviction.
Murphy said he intends to seek the return of his guns and the marijuana. The firearms include two antique bolt action rifles, a .22-caliber rifle and a Saiga IZ 132 rifle, plus gun parts, all of which he said had been locked in gun safes.
While Anderson said Murphy can seek a motion to have the firearms returned – noting the judge normally will release such property – because it's his position that Murphy violated state law, “We're not going to support him getting his illegal marijuana back.”
Seeking return of the marijuana may be a moot point, as Anderson said that marijuana seized in criminal cases usually is destroyed, with only a small sample – up to 2 pounds – being retained for use in prosecution.
In return, Murphy said he was told that 10 pounds of what was taken was destroyed, which he said he assumed was the shake.
“If what remains is damaged/unusable they owe the collective members around $20,000. This has been a serious hardship for several of the members, one of whom is in very bad shape with terminal cancer – she has very little time left now,” Murphy said.
He also accused Anderson of holding up the resolution of the case, stating that the offer to drop the case originally was made in April.
Murphy said he's planning to file a civil case – beginning with the tort claim process – against the sheriff's office as well as a number of complaints with the Lake County Grand Jury in which he will allege misuse of the county's Nixle alert system and issues with the sheriff's office's issuance of a press release days after the arrest “which contained a lot of information that they knew was false and excluded information that demonstrated our innocence.”
He added, “There is also an issue regarding criminal destruction of evidence by the LCSO in my home that will be brought to the attention of the grand jury.”
However, Anderson said he would have authorized the original action against Murphy himself had he been presented with the same facts used by the sheriff's office.
“It's our opinion that the sheriff's office had plenty of probable cause to make the arrest and confiscate the marijuana. They did everything legally and what they were supposed to do,” said Anderson, adding it was the information that came up later during the additional investigation work that led to the case's dismissal.
Murphy said he and Carr have suffered ramifications from their arrests. Carr lost her job and both of them suffered the loss of thousands of dollars due to bail, $1,000 for recovering lost emails which he alleges deputies erased from his computer and damage to a motorhome being stored at the property which he said was broken into without a warrant. Then there was the $3,000 he said he lost in a burglary before the warrant was served.
“The bottom line here is if I thought I was committing multiple felonies would I have asked the cops to come over and take a close look?” he asked.
Murphy said he's been “completely amazed by how supportive my neighbors have been, seems like everyone here in the Big Valley figured it was my mouth that got me into trouble and the grow was just an excuse to shut me up.”
As for the case's impact on his effort to seek the supervisorial seat, Murphy said, “I know people care a lot about the cannabis issue here so any linkage to the growing end of it is a big negative for a lot of people, I'm sure it cost me a significant amount of support.”
He added, “The dismissal can't hurt, it might get a few people off the fence and onto my side.”
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Marijuana case against Finley farmer and supervisorial candidate dropped
- Elizabeth Larson
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