TRI In The News

Appeal Filed After Marijuana Conviction; Rights Abuse Alleged

October 19, 2011

10/19/2011

TRI IN THE NEWS: APPEAL FILED AFTER MARIJUANA CONVICTION; RIGHTS ABUSE ALLEGED

From The Daily Progress

An Albemarle County man convicted Tuesday of possessing two marijuana plants will appeal his case to a higher court, his attorney said.

The attorney for 53-year-old Philip Cobbs said his client's Fourth Amendment rights were violated by the Virginia State Police, the Albemarle County Police Department and the Jefferson Area Drug Enforcement task force when, he says, they entered his property on July 26 with guns drawn and without a search warrant after seeing two marijuana plants growing in his yard.

General District Judge William G. Barkley listened to more than three hours of testimony from police officers and Cobbs before finding the defendant guilty of simple possession of marijuana. The judge sentenced Cobbs to 10 days in jail, but suspended the jail time and also his driver's license for six months.

Attorneys for Cobbs filed documents Tuesday to appeal the case to Albemarle County Circuit Court.

"Mr. Cobbs feels strongly that his rights were violated and he wants to fight this," said his attorney, Ned Michie, after court. "We knew all along it could come out this way and we have already started the appeal."

Assistant Albemarle County Commonwealth's Attorney Matthew Quatrara declined to comment Tuesday because of the appeal.

Albemarle police Col. Steve Sellers said Tuesday that although he could not speak to specifics about the case, he respected the judge's decision and Cobbs' right to appeal. Sellers said he would await the higher court's ruling on the appeal, but is prepared to make changes in procedure if necessary.

"Our role as officers is to determine probable cause and to pass it off to the proper authorities," Sellers said. "I think we fulfilled our role in this case."

In court Tuesday, police officers denied they drew weapons on Cobbs and said they came to his house only after a state trooper working an aerial search for drugs spotted the two marijuana plants on Cobbs' 39 acres.

County police Officer Trevor Ross testified the plants were found less than 100 feet from Cobbs' house in a fallen log along with other plants, the officers said.

Ross, who issued Cobbs' citation, said the delay in Cobbs being charged is because he went on vacation out of state and came back to other cases. The defense claims Cobbs was only charged after he questioned why police searched his property in the first place.

Officers testified the plants were two to three feet from the ground and were supported by netting and sticks.

Cobbs testified he had no knowledge of the marijuana plants and was surprised when officers showed up at his house that morning with their guns drawn and shouting orders.

"I had been mowing the yard all summer and had not seen them," Cobbs, a former teacher, testified. "I'm telling this court under oath that I did not know those plants were there."

In his closing argument Tuesday, Quatrara admitted the commonwealth did not have evidence of photographs of the marijuana plants on Cobbs' property or the nettings and sticks found with the plants and to a lack of timeliness in which the citation was written. The search was in July, but Cobbs was not issued a citation until late August.

But Quatrara said the evidence is clear that someone planted the marijuana and was taking care of it.

"Those plants weren't put there by an act of God," Quatrara said. "Someone was out there taking care of the plants."

John W. Whitehead, president of the Albemarle County-based Rutherford Institute, said Barkley's ruling basically supports the idea he believed the testimony of the officers over Cobbs.

"I find it incredible that the court summarily rejected the central issue in this case, which is the fact that the police entered a man's private property without a search warrant," Whitehead said in a released statement. "It's as if the Constitution doesn't exist. This is a sad day for the Fourth Amendment."