By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – A Lewis County jury deadlocked on whether 47-year-old Lauri Spangler committed a crime in connection with what police said was a medical marijuana dispensary they raided two years ago shortly after it opened in downtown Centralia.
Spangler was the only one of four individuals in the case to go to trial. The others’ cases are already settled with plea agreements.
She was charged with maintaining a premises for using controlled substances, but her attorney told jurors last week all she did was get the business license and set up the checking account for her boyfriend Colby Cave.
Hub City Natural Medicine opened on Tower Avenue in early 2011 with a city-granted business license which the city said accidentally slid below its radar.
Jurors deliberated about five hours following the two-day trial last week in Lewis County Superior Court.
Lewis County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher said jurors didn’t stick around on Friday to talk so that he or the defense attorney might learn what their issues were.
However, documents now available in the court file offer some clues.
Jurors sent a question to the judge on Friday after lunch, asking for the definition of “knowingly”.
The judge’s written answer delivered back to the jury room essentially said he couldn’t answer that, they should refer to their jury instructions.
Within a half an hour, jurors sent out another note, informing the judge they couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict.
Lewis County Superior Court Judge Nelson Hunt queried them individually in open court, asking if they were certain they couldn’t reach a unanimous decision in a reasonable amount of time.
The jurors were all in agreement that they couldn’t reach an agreement.
The judge declared a mistrial.
Meagher said today he hasn’t made a decision on whether to retry Spangler, however, on Thursday he will go ahead and schedule another trial.
“We’ll make our formal decision later,” he said.
•••
For background, read “Centralia marijuana store case goes to trial” from Wednesday May 15, 2013, here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
““implying of course, that a drug user would be better than someone sober.”
Isn’t THAT exactly what is implied when a person who smokes cigarettes is hired? I won’t hire cigarette addicts just for that reason.
You can claim discrimination, but I cannot afford to allow productivity to come to a stop every time a tobacco addict needs a “fix”, which is usually every half hour. Forget it!
I can’t afford to risk the safety and comfort of my other employees just to accomodate a tabacco addict. What if they run out of cigarettes? Am I to believe that the tobacco addict won’t start going through withdrawals if they don’t get their “precious fix”? Why should I expose my employees to someone who is obviously agited, shaking, and confrontational when they can’t get their nicotine fix? In a worst case scenario, someone either will get hurt or die.
If I had it my way, if I found out someone in my employ was smoking tobacco, I would not only have them fired, but I would have them arrested and put into jail only to be released with a permanent record of lawless actions.
Anytime a prize is awarded (such as the ability to “confiscate” valuables from drug users, or accused drug dealers), folks will find a way to rationalize taking those prizes and items of value. The only thing stopping them is personal morality – which though admirable when in place – is not always present.
When a budget is tight, and a supervisor needs funding that is not forthcoming and sees a bright, shiny new car, or funds sitting RIGHT THERE… some folks will cross the line.
I don’t think any rewards or proceeds should be able to go to law enforcement ever. It muddies the water too much.
bahlsdeep:
I suggest you reread that RCW carefully. Pay special attention to section 2, 3, and 4.
Section 1, subsections c and d allow for stealing ANY personal property. Cause doesn’t have to be shown, just the assumption it COULD be used in commision of a crime. Burden of proof then falls upon the accused.
Section 2 allows ANY inspector or law enforcement official to seize property with a court order. Our kangaroo courts allow just about any law enforcement agency to procure an order for just about any thing.
I point you to this tidbit from section 3: The notice of seizure in other cases may be served by any method authorized by law or court rule including but not limited to service by certified mail with return receipt requested. Service by mail shall be deemed complete upon mailing within the fifteen day period following the seizure.
That’s right, service by mail is deemed complete upon MAILING. NOT after receiving the return receipt. Law enforcement agencies are notorious for waiting 14 days to notify the property owner by registered mail. The property owner has no knowledge of the proceedings, and after 45 days, (according to section 4) the property is assumed forfeit.
I then refer you to section 10: Forfeited property and net proceeds not required to be paid to the state treasurer shall be retained by the seizing law enforcement agency exclusively for the expansion and improvement of controlled substances related law enforcement activity. Money retained under this section may not be used to supplant preexisting funding sources.
This means they can further militarize and update their equipment, but ONLY for ‘Drug War’ activity.
So, seizing property benefits the law enforcement agency. Do you REALLY trust the law enforcement in THIS county to do right by that? I didn’t think so.
“implying of course, that a drug user would be better than someone sober.”
Implying, AS YOU DO, that people who use drugs are ALWAYS not sober. Sheesh. Your superiority complex is nauseating.
“but just ask around and you will not see any of that money being deposited into any local budgets.”
That’s because it’s deposited into foreign mutual accounts. The cops are better criminals than crime-fighters.
I am not certain but I know from military experience that law enforcement gets APC’s and other vehicles such as Humvees as hand me downs from the U.S. Army and Air Force. Lewis County recently received a nice crime scene van and other goodies from the military. Thurston County received a free helicopter too that was decommissioned by Sheriff Kimball a few years back.
All of the laws of seizures and what the cops can do with the proceeds are listed under RCW 69.50.505. It explains there what they have to prove before seizing property and assets. The war on drugs may still be funded to federal agencies but just ask around and you will not see any of that money being deposited into any local budgets.
Bahlsdeep (cute):
I’ll just leave this here for your perusal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Drugs
Just because the current president said they won’t use the phrase “War on Drugs” any more doesn’t mean it’s gone away.
Law enforcement agencies are given billions of dollars in federal grants to fight this invisible war, and they keep monies and property stolen during search and seizures, most without due process. If you’re accused, you lose your property, and have no way to get it back. This is how it has been since Nixon coined the term “War on Drugs”.
Now, we have NEW ‘Homeland Security’ grants for local law enforcement agencies to fight the ‘War on Terror’. All of this is money better spent elsewhere. Obviously, both of these ‘Wars’ are a complete waste of time and money, and have only served to militarize law enforcement.
IF what you say is true, how did LCSO afford to purchase that new APC they use for drug raids? Considering there aren’t enough patrol officers on the road to make much difference, and most calls take ~20 minutes for an officer to arrive, I await your insight.
And, thus the reason why I don’t argue over the internet.
Somehow a comment regarding a correlation between property crimes and drug abuse has now been twisted beyond recognition into a rant accusing me of working for a “nazi-like” employer due to their following federal and state labor laws regarding CDL Drug Tests, and another rant implying that a person’s urinary skills outweigh any other considerations that would otherwise qualify them for employment, thus their poor satisfaction with services received in the workplace; implying of course, that a drug user would be better than someone sober.
Thanks for reminding me not to argue specific subject matter over the internet. It’s truly been an education.
It’s not really a “test” of a person’s performance or skill at a job if they can pass a drug test.
That’s why workplaces across america are full of imbeciles. They can simply pass a drug test. Wow.
No wonder the secretary is too busy facebooking to discuss my mutual account. It’s no wonder the dummy at the bank can’t do two things at once like deposit my check into one account while making a withdrawal from another acount.
It’s no wonder that when you go to a restaurant they can’t seem to be able to calculate the sum total or figure out what the menu items are by memory!
They can pass a pee pee test. Wow. They are so awesome! Let’s throw everyone else in jail!!
Don’t worry about it. Free Air is/has been happy to work for nazi-like employers who discriminate at the drop of a hat. So secure in her self-superiority, she feels entitled to treat others the same way, in a position of “authority” of course.
I’ve learned not to argue over the internet, just say my .02 worth and move on, but regarding the half rack comment, that’s a bet I’ll take you up on. I just don’t drink alcohol or do any drugs outside of an occasional Tylenol. There’s just too much to enjoy in the real world!
Over the years, I’ve worked around both pot smokers, other druggies and drinkers. Sooner or later their CDL random test or their impaired performance put them back on the unemployed list. They all said the same thing on their way out the door “What I do at home on my own time is my own business, and has never affected my performance”. Well, yes it’s your business but when it affects your performance at work, it’s the bosses right to dismiss you for it. Had they been sober or not stoned they, like the rest of us would have seen how poorly they were doing.
Dopers and Drinkers are the last one to realize just how screwed up their lives are both at home and with their work performance. It’s like those COPS episodes were the drunk is arrested for a DUI after failing their road side tests, only to swear they passed everything with flying colors.
Someone who says “It does not affect my performance…” needs to see a video tape of themselves in action, or lack thereof.
Working with the impaired gets real old real quick.
Because some one may smoke some cannabis for relaxation on their own time does not have anything to do with performing one’s job competently.
Many people who use cannabis are able to function in a responsible manner.
Pre employment u.a.s’ are by and large meant to screen out cannabis users. While the quick metabolism of drugs like Meth. Heroin, Cocaine and the inability to test at all for alcohol, far and away the most abused work place drug, are largely able to slip through undetected.
Further more for two non drug users Free air and Bahls Deep ( how clever ) seem too have a problem with reading comprehension. The story details a Medical Cannabis dispensary used by people with legal state issued medical cards.
I’ll bet those two are amongst the demographic I see buying 1/2 rack refrigerator cold packs at the convenience
store everyday to take home and drink it all in an evenings journey into oblivion.
Pot Stirrer:
Silence is golden and duct tape is silver. You really have no knowledge about the topics your soap box is based on. There are no more federal dollars from the war on drugs and informants don’t use their own money when working with cops. If you ask a cop who deals with drugs, he or she will tell you that they have recovered more stolen property during drug search warrants than most other cases.
Knowledge is power
Of course you can’t separate them.
Most property crimes occur with the blessing of law enforcement, because the money from those crimes is used to buy drugs by their informants. Then, when they’re done with the informant, there’s a big notice in the paper that law enforcement is looking for said informant, which gives them time to run away and hide. The only time you see people with drugs being caught is when they refuse to turn informant.
If they truly cared about stopping drugs, they’d stop the property crime. They won’t. No drug problem, no federal funding for the ‘War on Drugs’. If you truly believe law enforcement cares about anything but its own funding, you’re delusional.
I don’t think you can separate the drug crimes from the property crimes. Just from the paper, it seems that 80% + of all the property crimes are to fuel a drug habit. It’s hard to hold a decent job when you can’t pass a drug test or show up to work impaired.
I completely agree with sunshinegirl and B.L. Zebub.
This is a complete waste of time, and should have been just retroactively treated under the new law.
Our county’s law enforcement is such a joke that people come from Longview, Olympia, Tacoma, and Vancouver to steal, knowing they have a greater chance of getting away due to the inaction on property crimes. (Unless it’s one of the cops’ buddies, that is.)
Meanwhile, they’re arresting kids for pot, (what about tobacco, you hypocrites?) harassing people for filming, and aiding and abetting property crimes in order to build drug cases. This is nothing new, and has gone on for YEARS.
Instead of focusing on property crimes, the LCSO and local Police Departments are trying to get more and more Federal monies for the ‘War on Drugs’. Just. Stop.
If HALF the effort was put into property crimes as was put into alleged ‘drug activity’, we’d be able to leave our doors unlocked again, like so many years ago.
Agreed. It would be nice if they could focus on prosecuting perpetrators of violent crimes in an efficient manner. I plan on letting the LC prosecutor know that tying the courts up with this nonsense is not how I want my tax dollars spent. We have an overburdened court system, overfilled jails and an ever decreasing budget.
Time to refocus our priorities…
Right, let’s waste the already over burdened court system with this bullshit , where’s the real crime here??? Oh yeah I forgot, these people are cheating the big drug companies out the HUGE profits they make on medications that can be grown in my back yard as easy as weeds , at grossly inflated prices that make this seem like no crime at all. They should all have to watch their child suffer from chemo treatment with nausea so bad they want to die now , when this little innocuous weed can alleviate all that suffering for about 100th the price these companies charge .SHAME ON THE FEDS !!!!