Former Libertarian candidate Steve Kubby’s marijuana cultivation case will be presented to a criminal grand jury, a Placer County prosecutor confirmed on Monday. The grand jury hearing is set for Feb. 17. With the decision, the district attorney’s office will withdraw the existing indictment of marijuana cultivate and possession for sale against Steve Kubby and his wife Michele.
See
California Libertarians Form Prop. 215 Blue Ribbon Committee In Wake of Kubby Arrests
and
After Interview With Steve Kubby, Orange County Weekly Says
Arresting Him "May Have Been Prop 215 Opponents' Worst Mistake"
and links

The Kubbys were arrested Jan. 19 at their Olympic Valley home by the multiagency North Tahoe Task Force, which seized 265 plants growing in four rooms. Steve Kubby, 52, openly espoused the use of medical marijuana for his rare adrenal cancer during a 1998 campaign for governor. He was instrumental in qualifying California’s successful Proposition 215 in 1996, which allows the use of marijuana with a physician’s approval.

Christopher Cattran, a Placer County deputy district attorney, said criminal grand juries are often used by the county’s prosecutors. "We view the grand jury as a body of independent people who will impartially review all the evidence and render a fair decision," Cattran said. "It’s not unusual, especially in Placer County, for us to go in front of a grand jury."

Like the preliminary hearing it replaces, a grand jury is required to determine whether enough evidence exists to refer a case to trial. Dale Wood, a Tahoe City attorney representing the Kubbys, said the decision would deprive Kubby of a public hearing of his case. Grand jury proceedings are secret, and the transcript is usually sealed. In addition, defendants are not allowed to be represented by counsel in the proceedings, which serves as an alternative for preliminary hearings by a magistrate in court.

Wood called the grand jury hearing an "archaic" procedure, and said he had advised the Kubbys not to attend.

"We are deprived of public and open hearings," Wood said of the grand jury process. "A first-year law student can get an indictment out of a grand jury." To compensate for the defendant’s lack of legal counsel, Cattran said the prosecutor carries an extra duty in proceedings.

"It is the responsibility of the (prosecution) to present all sides of the case to the grand jury," Cattran said. "It is our responsibility to present all exculpatory evidence to the jurors."

The Placer district attorney also sought a grand jury hearing for another recent medical marijuana case, involving Rocklin dentist Michael Baldwin and his wife Georgia. There case is pending.