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Pubdate: 7 Dec, 2000
Source: Auburn Journal (CA)
Copyright: 2000 The Auburn Journal
Contact: ajournal@foothill.net
Address: 1030 High St., Auburn, CA 95603
Website: Auburn California News | Auburn Journal
Author: Gus Thomson, Journal Staff Writer
Phone: (530) 885-6585
Related: Official Steve Kubby Home Page
MICHELE KUBBY BREAKS DOWN IN COURTROOM
Prosecution says it plans to call five more witnesses
By Gus Thomson, Journal Staff Writer
The stress of a lengthy trial took its toll on Michele Kubby, with the co-defendant breaking down in tears Wednesday before fleeing the courtroom.
Michele Kubby's display of emotion followed a day-long stint on the witness stand by her husband, Steve. The two are charged with 16 drug-related counts related to a January 1999 raid on their Olympic Valley home that netted 265 marijuana plants.
After a series of delays including one that allowed Michele Kubby time off to give birth to the couple's second child the trial began in earnest in early October. Both sides expressed interest in bringing the trial to a
conclusion this week but, in the absence of the jury, Deputy District Attorney Chris Cattran told Placer County Judge John Cosgrove late in the afternoon that he planned to call five more witnesses for the prosecution to rebut defense evidence. The defense rested its case at the end of Steve
Kubby's testimony.
Cattran listed his witnesses, including: a Fair Political Practices Commission investigator; former Kubby neighbor and brother of ex-Attorney General Dan Lungren, Brian Lungren; and Mick Mollica, a Department of Justice rebuttal expert.
Both Michele Kubby defense attorney David Nick and Steve Kubby defense attorney Tony Serra expressed surprise on the mention of Mollica. Nick said he had been told by the prosecution that Mollica would never testify. He asked for a week's adjournment to prepare for his testimony.
"(Mollica) is a perjurer, a liar, a fraud," Nick said. "This is such a sandbag, your honor."
Nick said he would have to "go to Washington State" to find a retired federal Drug Enforcement Agency officer to refute Mollica's testimony.
Earlier, Steve Kubby had weathered an extended cross-examination by Cattran.
Because of the rare form of adrenal cancer he has been diagnosed with, the court has allowed him to stop testifying at 4 p.m. Both Steve and Michele Kubby had medical marijuana recommendations from doctors at the time of the raid. They say the plants were for their own personal, medical use under Proposition 215 the medical marijuana initiative passed by California voters in 1996.
As the defense attorneys issued their objections to Mollica's surprise testimony, Michele Kubby buried her face in her husband's shoulder as the two sat side-by-side. After several seconds, Michele Kubby silently walked out of the North Auburn courtroom. Excused soon afterward, Steve Kubby also left. The two didn't return for the final hour of testimony by Colleen
McGee, a state Fair Political Practices Commission enforcement division official.
McGee listed donations to the Kubby for Governor campaign filed with the state and was to continue her testimony today. The prosecution is attempting to show the Kubbys earned income from homegrown marijuana sales to Bay Area medical marijuana clubs during the period leading up to their arrests. But
the Kubbys contend a series of deposits in their accounts were gifts from supporters of their pro-medicinal marijuana advocacy. Steve Kubby helped put Prop. 215 on the ballot and ran for governor in 1998 as the Libertarian Party candidate.
Steve Kubby testified for a third straight day, with the prosecution cross-examining him on a contention that he had never advocated illegal drug use. Cattran zeroed in on a book Kubby had written in the early 1990s that theorized magic mushrooms could be the Biblical "manna from heaven." In the
book, a footnote listed businesses that would supply mushroom growing equipment and spores.
Kubby said that he felt that if they were advertising in national magazines, there was no illegality.
"It would be irresponsible for me to do that (advocate illegal mushroom use)," Kubby said.
"Lab notes" Kubby wrote at the time showed he had supplied magic mushrooms to his college-age son from a first marriage and a friend. Kubby said he supplied "manna" to the two because he was developing a theory. His son would know what the mushroom would look like and his friend, a college professor, would be able to tell him if he conducting a proper scientific study, he said.
Judge Cosgrove disallowed questioning on Kubby's notes, which indicated he supplied LSD to his 16-year-old son in 1991. Serra had argued with the jury out of the courtroom that the LSD evidence would be "inflammatory" near the end of proceedings and become "the tail that wags the dog." Cosgrove described the evidence as "highly prejudicial" and the prosecution had already proved its point with the mushroom evidence.
Source: Auburn Journal (CA)
Copyright: 2000 The Auburn Journal
Contact: ajournal@foothill.net
Address: 1030 High St., Auburn, CA 95603
Website: Auburn California News | Auburn Journal
Author: Gus Thomson, Journal Staff Writer
Phone: (530) 885-6585
Related: Official Steve Kubby Home Page
MICHELE KUBBY BREAKS DOWN IN COURTROOM
Prosecution says it plans to call five more witnesses
By Gus Thomson, Journal Staff Writer
The stress of a lengthy trial took its toll on Michele Kubby, with the co-defendant breaking down in tears Wednesday before fleeing the courtroom.
Michele Kubby's display of emotion followed a day-long stint on the witness stand by her husband, Steve. The two are charged with 16 drug-related counts related to a January 1999 raid on their Olympic Valley home that netted 265 marijuana plants.
After a series of delays including one that allowed Michele Kubby time off to give birth to the couple's second child the trial began in earnest in early October. Both sides expressed interest in bringing the trial to a
conclusion this week but, in the absence of the jury, Deputy District Attorney Chris Cattran told Placer County Judge John Cosgrove late in the afternoon that he planned to call five more witnesses for the prosecution to rebut defense evidence. The defense rested its case at the end of Steve
Kubby's testimony.
Cattran listed his witnesses, including: a Fair Political Practices Commission investigator; former Kubby neighbor and brother of ex-Attorney General Dan Lungren, Brian Lungren; and Mick Mollica, a Department of Justice rebuttal expert.
Both Michele Kubby defense attorney David Nick and Steve Kubby defense attorney Tony Serra expressed surprise on the mention of Mollica. Nick said he had been told by the prosecution that Mollica would never testify. He asked for a week's adjournment to prepare for his testimony.
"(Mollica) is a perjurer, a liar, a fraud," Nick said. "This is such a sandbag, your honor."
Nick said he would have to "go to Washington State" to find a retired federal Drug Enforcement Agency officer to refute Mollica's testimony.
Earlier, Steve Kubby had weathered an extended cross-examination by Cattran.
Because of the rare form of adrenal cancer he has been diagnosed with, the court has allowed him to stop testifying at 4 p.m. Both Steve and Michele Kubby had medical marijuana recommendations from doctors at the time of the raid. They say the plants were for their own personal, medical use under Proposition 215 the medical marijuana initiative passed by California voters in 1996.
As the defense attorneys issued their objections to Mollica's surprise testimony, Michele Kubby buried her face in her husband's shoulder as the two sat side-by-side. After several seconds, Michele Kubby silently walked out of the North Auburn courtroom. Excused soon afterward, Steve Kubby also left. The two didn't return for the final hour of testimony by Colleen
McGee, a state Fair Political Practices Commission enforcement division official.
McGee listed donations to the Kubby for Governor campaign filed with the state and was to continue her testimony today. The prosecution is attempting to show the Kubbys earned income from homegrown marijuana sales to Bay Area medical marijuana clubs during the period leading up to their arrests. But
the Kubbys contend a series of deposits in their accounts were gifts from supporters of their pro-medicinal marijuana advocacy. Steve Kubby helped put Prop. 215 on the ballot and ran for governor in 1998 as the Libertarian Party candidate.
Steve Kubby testified for a third straight day, with the prosecution cross-examining him on a contention that he had never advocated illegal drug use. Cattran zeroed in on a book Kubby had written in the early 1990s that theorized magic mushrooms could be the Biblical "manna from heaven." In the
book, a footnote listed businesses that would supply mushroom growing equipment and spores.
Kubby said that he felt that if they were advertising in national magazines, there was no illegality.
"It would be irresponsible for me to do that (advocate illegal mushroom use)," Kubby said.
"Lab notes" Kubby wrote at the time showed he had supplied magic mushrooms to his college-age son from a first marriage and a friend. Kubby said he supplied "manna" to the two because he was developing a theory. His son would know what the mushroom would look like and his friend, a college professor, would be able to tell him if he conducting a proper scientific study, he said.
Judge Cosgrove disallowed questioning on Kubby's notes, which indicated he supplied LSD to his 16-year-old son in 1991. Serra had argued with the jury out of the courtroom that the LSD evidence would be "inflammatory" near the end of proceedings and become "the tail that wags the dog." Cosgrove described the evidence as "highly prejudicial" and the prosecution had already proved its point with the mushroom evidence.