Pot case search evidence quashed

By BEN BROWN The Daily Journal
Article Last Updated: 03/05/2008 08:21:37 AM PST

Laura Hamburg isn't the only marijuana defendant to have the evidence from a search warrant thrown out by a judge. Last month, Mendocino Superior Court Judge David Nelson ordered that evidence from a warrant served on Angie Pinches' Uva Drive home be suppressed.

Sheriff's deputies got a warrant after seeing marijuana plants growing at Pinches' home at 8401 Uva Drive on March 12, 2007.

Pinches is the daughter of 3rd District Supervisor John Pinches.

According to court documents, deputies violated Angie Pinches' privacy by entering her property at 3 a.m. without consent, walking 50 feet down a country driveway.

Nelson noted that there are instances in which officers have a valid reason to venture that far onto a private citizen's property, such as when they are serving an arrest warrant or searching for a witness.

"This case was not a daytime knock-and-talk but a 3 a.m. snoop by officers whose intent by their own candid omission was to get probable cause' for a warrant," Nelson said in his ruling.

Deputies had to walk 50 feet from the main road to the point where they observed the marijuana growing, according to the ruling.

"The officers had to take rather extreme steps to reach the point where they were able to make probable cause," Nelson wrote in his ruling.

According to the ruling, Pinches had a reasonable expectation of privacy on her property because the area sheriff's deputies used to access it was enclosed by a fence, though the gate was open, and had a motion sensor alarm.

"It is clear from the testimony and exhibits that the defendants took numerous steps to protect the shop from observation," Nelson said in his ruling.

Nelson also noted that the mailbox was at the end of a country road, as was the home's electrical meter.

Ben Brown can be reached at udjbb@pacific.net.