Redding MM grower arraigned hours before DA opts to drop case

A 49-year-old Redding man is becoming an old hand in winning medical marijuana cases, the Record-Searchlight’s Jim Schultz reports.

James Bradley Hall was arraigned Friday morning in Shasta County Superior Court on felony marijuana cultivation and for having a shotgun in his house while in the commission of a crime only to later learn that the entire case against him is being dropped.

“What a relief,” Hall said after hearing the news. “Maybe now they’ll leave me alone.”

District Attorney Jerry Benito said late this morning that his office is dismissing the criminal case against Hall, a single father of four, due to a January decision by the state Supreme Court.

Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, did not include limits on the permissible quantity of medical marijuana a qualified patient could possess, and a California Supreme Court ruling last month reinforced that act.

That ruling eliminated any legal limits on the quantity of medical marijuana that a qualified patient, such as Hall, or primary caregiver may legally possess or cultivate.

“The state Supreme Court has determined that the limitations are no longer valid,” Benito said, noting that his office reviewed and filed the marijuana cultivation case against Hall in December.

“The case was filed before the law changed,” he said, adding that his office will soon file a motion to dismiss the case.

Although the case against him will be dismissed, Hall, who said he has smoked marijuana daily since 1998 due to a debilitating back injury, still has serious issues with the Redding police operation that led to the confiscation of 19 marijuana plants from his home’s garden.

“They robbed me of my medicine for a year,” Hall said, adding that he also believes that the police surveillance of his home violated his privacy rights.

Hall, along with his mother, Lydia, was acquitted in 2000 of growing marijuana and he was also found not guilty of possessing pot for sale.

Although they were both found guilty by that same jury of conspiracy to cultivate marijuana, their sentences were put on hold pending appeal and a state appellate court overturned their convictions in 2003.

But, Hall said after his arraignment today, the most recent case against him was “the silliest one yet.”

“I don’t break the law,” he said. “I lead a quiet life.”

Hall’s quiet life was disrupted on Oct. 14 when police, who had surveyed his property from the air, went to his home and confiscated a number of growing marijuana plants because the amount in his possession exceeded growing limits adopted by the city..

Hall, a Redding resident since 1994, was joined following his arraignment by about 10 friends — some carrying signs and placards in a show of support — outside the John Balma Justice Center.

“They keep harassing the poor guy,” said Hall’s friend and supporter, Rick Levin.

“Why is this still happening?” asked Deborah Williams, another one of his supporters. “Why are patients being persecuted? I challenge anyone to justify why are our taxpayer dollars being spent this way.”

In a Redding police report released today, officers said they went to Hall’s home on the afternoon of Oct. 14 after an investigator had earlier taken photographs of the home’s backyard while conducting aerial surveillance for marijuana cultivation within the city.

When police arrived, Hall said he had approximately 40 growing marijuana plants, adding that he had medical marijuana recommendations for four people, including himself.

Police said, however, that law allowed him to have only six marijuana plants or eight ounces for himself unless a physician recommended otherwise.

The police report said the marijuana recommendations Hall had posted were valid and he was told that they allowed him to grow only 24 plants.