>From: "Peter McWilliams" >Subject: Sadness >Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2000 09:52:46 -0800 >X-Mozilla-Status: 9001 >X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 > >Todd has another hearing on Wednesday. He is currently in custody. The >magistrate judge was leaning toward no jailing Todd unless he was found >guilty of the accusations. > >Take care, > >Peter > >---------- > >Los Angeles Times > >Tuesday, January 4, 2000 | > >Medical Marijuana Proponent Is Jailed Pending Bail Hearing > Drugs: Court will determine if Todd McCormick violated terms of his release >on conspiracy conviction. > > > >From a Times Staff Writer > > > > > > Medical marijuana advocate Todd McCormick, who is awaiting sentencing >for a federal drug conspiracy conviction, was jailed Monday pending the >outcome of a hearing on whether he violated the terms of his bail. > The U.S. attorney's office filed papers in Los Angeles federal court >seeking to revoke McCormick's bond because of his arrest in November after a >90-mph freeway chase in Orange County. > A California Highway Patrol officer testified during a hearing before >federal magistrate James W. McMahon that McCormick, 29, threw a small item >out of his car before stopping. > The officer also said he detected a strong odor of what he thought was >marijuana coming from the vehicle. > McCormick, who admitted he did not have a driver's license, then sped >off with the CHP officer in pursuit, the officer said. Stopped again a few >miles away, McCormick was arrested and taken to the Orange County Jail, >where he was booked and released on his own recognizance. > A federal prosecutor said the Orange County district attorney's office >is deciding whether to file formal charges against McCormick. > But McMahon indicated after Monday's three-hour hearing that he will >probably base his decision not on the car chase--since those allegations >have not been adjudicated--but on another government claim that McCormick >violated his bail conditions by failing to tell authorities that he had >moved out of actor Woody Harrelson's mountain home near Big Bear Lake. > Harrelson has posted $500,000 bail for McCormick's freedom and stands >to lose some of that money if the government's bail revocation motion is >granted. > The proceedings will resume Wednesday with testimony from Harrelson's >mother, who has been living at the Big Bear-area home, and from a federal >employee who supervised McCormick's bail release. > McCormick was arrested in 1997 when authorities found more than 4,000 >marijuana plants growing in the Bel-Air mansion that he rented. He pleaded >guilty in November after a federal judge barred him from using medical >necessity as a defense. > >