The Associated Press

Santa Cruz County SENTINEL

Saturday, October 16 1993

SAN DIEGO - An AIDS patient was found innocent of drug charges friday when a Superior Court jury determined that he cultivated marijuana for medicinal purposes.

With the ruling, Samuel Skipper, 39, of La Mesa, was told by the jury that he can grow the drug at his home to combat AIDS-related symptoms. The case is thought to be the first in California where a defendant claimed to use marjiuana to ease symptoms of AIDS. Defendants in other trials have said they used marijuana to treat medical problems such as glaucoma or cancer. Skipper admitted in court that he was guilty of growing the more than 70 pot plants seized at his La Mesa home earlier this year.

Skipper said he eats the buds from the green, leafy plant to help him live. He brought four peanut butter ballds laced with marijuana to court earlier this week to try to have them introduced as evidence at tiral. But they were confiscated by a bailiff and not shown to the jury. An investigation is under way by the District Attorney's office to determine whether Skipper should be charged criminally with possession because of that incident. Skipper said he brought the peanut butter balls into the court-house at the request of his defense attorney Juliana Humphrey. But despite the ongoing investigation, Skipper was elated with the verdict.

"They're outstanding citizens." Skipper said of the jurors. "They represent the conscious of the people".

Deputy District Attorney David Williams was disappointed with the jury's decision. Deliberations lasted less than three hours.

"I would like to have had it go the other way." Williams said.

The prosecutor had contended throughout the week-long trial that Skipper did not try legal means to treat his AIDS symptoms before turning to marijuana.

"There were certainly conventional treatments available that effectively dealt with the problems that his doctors knew of, and for every symptom that he described," Williams said.

But the jury apparently believed the defense.

"We felt the fact that he was HIV-positive...was enough to warrant the defense of (medical) necessity." said jury foreman Robert Lenzi, 39, of La JOlla.

Lenzi said the jury's job was not to send a message to other AIDS patients, but to decide Skinner's case. However, he aknowledged that the triel could lead to other such cases.

"If it's found that cannabis can be used for people with HIV ... more work (should be) done to experiment with it and find out," Lenzi said.