Affidavit confusion hangs over pot case


K Kaufmann • The Desert Sun • October 2, 2007


Criminal charges against medical marijuana patient Garry Silva of Sky
Valley were put on hold Monday pending release of a sealed affidavit.

Indio Superior Court Judge Thomas N. Douglass continued the case until
Oct. 26.

Riverside County charged Silva with two felony counts of marijuana
cultivation and possession after a March 2006 raid on his home by the
federal Drug Enforcement Administration and Riverside County Sheriff's
Department.

Bill Weir of Palm Springs, Silva's lawyer, is seeking the affidavit.
It was filed before the raid.

"We're trying to find out if the truth was told to a federal
magistrate (to justify the warrant for the raid)," Weir said. "It's
all a secret. We haven't had been allowed to look."

The delay could be due to uncertainty over whether federal or state
agents filed the affidavit.

Ingrid Wyatt, spokeswoman for the county district attorney's office,
said the affidavit was originally filed in federal court and a U.S.
attorney would have to file a motion to get it unsealed.

But Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los
Angeles, said the affidavit was not a federal matter.

"It was state paper," Mrozek said Monday.

At the time of the raid, Silva, who had applied for a state-issued
patient identification card, was growing marijuana for a small
collective of patients, with the surplus going to CannaHelp, the
recently closed medical marijuana dispensary in Palm Desert.

He had about 40 mature plants and a few dozen seedlings, he said.

The DEA and county agents confiscated the plants, but no federal
charges were filed.

Silva has filed a civil suit against Riverside County seeking damages
for injuries he said he received during the raid.

Under California state law, patients with a doctor's letter of
recommendation are allowed to grow for small collectives. Federal law
bans all cultivation and use of marijuana.


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