Marijuana Growing Charges Against Bulgarians Dismissed

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Marijuana growing charges against four men arrested in June were dismissed Tuesday morning in Mendocino County Superior Court, due to insufficient evidence.

Radoslav Ayvazov, Martin Kamenov Dzaynelov, David Kamenov Dzaynelov and Petko G. Petkov were arrested in the Covelo area in June and booked into jail on suspicion of growing marijuana and possession of a gun.

"It was dismissed for insufficient evidence, all charges," defense attorney Jan Cole-Wilson said. "Subsequent investigation determined that the district attorney did not have sufficient evidence to proceed against these four," Cole-Wilson said.

Public Defender James H. Griffiths said attorney Katherine Houston, from the DA's Office, acted honorably. "The prosecution in this case acted with the highest ethical standards that a prosecutor can employ," Griffiths said.

Judge Richard J. Henderson said the charges facing the four Bulgarians were dropped due to lack of evidence, and also ordered that one defendant remaining in custody on an immigration hold be released from county jail.

"The unfortunate thing is my client spent about 100 days in jail," the attorney for Ayvazov, Katharine Elliott said. "He was seeking political asylum because he was being persecuted in his own country," Elliott said.

Ayvazov had been in jail on an immigration hold, while the other three paid their bails and were released. Any unpaid bonds were also exonerated, Henderson said.

Houston asked that evidence exhibits also be returned, she said.

Ayvazov had a Covelo address, Petkov had a Concord address, and both Dzaynelovs had Walnut Creek addresses, according to arrest logs from the Sheriff's Office.

The defense used by defense attorneys was that the men were there to do construction work on a cabin. New arrests on the same parcel indicated that the four were uninvolved, Griffiths stated.

Petkov's attorney, Al Kubanis, said that police found keys on the newly arrested men that opened a gate on a piece of the property, one being the owner of the land.

"We could show he (Petkov) had a job in the Bay Area up until eight days before he was arrested in Mendocino County," Kubanis said. The three-feet-tall plants, Kubanis said, indicated they were months old.

Previously, special agent Peter Hoyle of the Mendocino Major Crimes Task Force testified that he and other officers were stopped alongside road M1 in the Mendocino National Forest.

In a preliminary hearing, Hoyle said he and others were about to go to a grow site that had been identified last year. Hoyle stopped a truck driven by Radoslav because he described it as "fish tailing."

Cole-Wilson filed papers stating she would ask for Hoyle's personnel files regarding complaints about fabrication, dishonesty and illegal detention or search.

Radoslav's attorney, Elliott, had also filed a document stating that Ayvazov was illegally detained by Hoyle while police got a warrant.

Cole-Wilson said that two new arrests were connected to the property and statements made by those newly arrested supported attorneys' defense of the four men.

"My opinion was we would have won the trial anyway without new evidence," Cole-Wilson said.

Elliott said that her client and another of the defendants had arrived at the Bentley Ridge property for construction work. Another showed up, followed by one of the Dzaynelovs who was a truck driver, Elliott said.

"They were here doing construction work," Elliott said, "They got caught in a bad situation."

A trial had been set to begin Tuesday.


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Source: ukiahdailyjournal.com
Author: Zack Cinek
Copyright: 2009 Ukiah Daily Journal
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