by Michael Foley

L.A. August 11- It was 6:00pm Monday August 11th when Sergeant Doug Doyle took the stand to start the proceedings in the continuation of the sentencing of Michael Teague. Judge David Carter had spent the last 4 or 5 hours going over the minutia of statements made by several men in a case of fraudulent charity work and he seemed irritable.

The U.S. attorney, Andrew Stopler questioned the Orange County Sheriff regarding the search warrant that he served April 2nd 2002 on 13961 Brannan in the city of Tustin. Stopler went over the events that occurred during that afternoon starting with the forced entry into the house. He found Michael in the house and proceeded to handcuff and question him. Unfortunately Teague waived his Miranda Rights and proceeded to answer a series of questions. Doyle testified that Teague said, “He gave marijuana to his friends and received $200 donations." Teague sat next to his attorney David Nick furiously shaking his head. The judge wanted to know two things. Was Teague selling marijuana and was the gun found used in connection with the marijuana business.

“Did you find any indicia of sales? Did you find any pay/owe sheets?” Judge Carter questioned the Sergeant.

“No,” was the reply from the witness stand. Doyle went on to testify about the excessive packaging and scales found at the house. “40-50 baggies and two digital scales,” was the reply to the judge’s question.

At the conclusion of a brief cross exam by Nick, the judge said that all this testimony was irrelevant. What he wanted to know was, did Teague sell marijuana? Where was the informant? Who was in charge of the informant?

At this statement by the judge, Doyle said, “I was in charge of the C.I.” The U.S. attorney started shaking his head and Doyle looked at him with a confused look on his face. Stopler then stood up and said that Sergeant Doyle would be unable to reveal the identity of the C.I. There would be no testimony. With this the judge apologized to Sergeant Doyle saying, “I asked the government to supply a completely different witness. Sorry for any inconvenience.”

The next part of the evening was by far the most uncomfortable for the 15 or 20 medical marijuana supporters in the courtroom. Michael Teague took the stand to continue the cross examination from the previous hearing. As Michael attempted to answer questions he appeared extremely anxious, confused and entirely unprepared by his lawyer. He talked so fast at times that the judge asked him to re-answer and was on the verge of ending the examination. The U.S. attorney questioned Michael about whether he had ever shared marijuana with his friends.

Michael’s answers were convoluted and evasive. He was forced to answer about the identity of the friends in question. Nick objected on relevance, but the judge overruled and Michael squirmed and had trouble recollecting the names of all but Gary Wright. Teague and Stopler verbally wrestled with the concept of providing, giving and sharing marijuana. Michael was obviously trying to avoid giving the answer that Stopler wanted. Stopler referred to the original statement
that Michael had signed during the initial interview with Doug Doyle. Within it was a statement that Michael provided to be true under penalty of perjury stating, “At no time did I provide marijuana to other people.” “Is this statement true or false,” badgered Stopler. Michael never did give the answer that the U.S. attorney wanted.

There was some other testimony surrounding the condition for which Teague
was using medical marijuana. Michael stated that he had ADD and “used marijuana to calm him down; for his own personal relaxation.”

“Is using marijuana for your own personal relaxation a medical condition?” countered Stopler.

“I’m not a doctor, I don’t know.”

As painful as all this was, it was not the information that Judge Carter was looking for. Was Teague selling pot and was the weapon involved in the crime.

“You have failed me. Professionally not personally,” said the judge to the U.S. attorney.

The judge went on to say that he knew, “behind the scenes there’s a power struggle going on. The government wants to uphold mandatory minimums and the defense wants to legalize it.”

“40 baggies is laughable. I have that many in my kitchen at home. If you can’t get an informant to say he went in with $200 and bought…” The U.S. attorney actually started laughing. Judge Carter didn’t think it was funny.

“Stop laughing at me and sit up straight,” the judge said pointing his finger at the government’s attorney. The judge said that he would teach him a lesson he would never forget if he ever did that again. “Wrong court at the wrong time.”

Turning back to Teague and Nick the judge went on about how donation was a fancy word for selling. “If he is a seller I will warehouse him after sitting through this nonsense.”

“If there is evidence of perjury, I will be as harsh as I can be.” “If someone refutes that the weapon wasn’t used, I’ll warehouse you in prison.”

The hearing was continued again until next Monday August 18th at 1:30pm. The judge said that if he grants the safety valve exception, which means Teague would not be subject to the mandatory minimum he will take him right out of the courtroom to begin serving his sentence. Judge Carter said matter-of-factly, “Bring your toothbrush.”

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