San Diego Union-Tribune, 3/4/1994

By Anne Krueger

Staff Writer

A jubilant Samuel Skipper, who says he needs to consume marijuana to relieve

symptoms of the AIDS virus, was released from prison yesterday after a state

appellate court ruled that he should be free while he appeals his 16-month

sentence.

Skipper, 39, was released from the Richard J. Donovan prison at Otay Mesa

just hours after the 4th District Court of Appeal issued its ruling. His

lawyer, Deputy Public Defender Juliana Humphrey, waited at the prison gates

to take Skipper away.

"I was completely shocked when they told me," Skipper said. He said he lost

the La Mesa home he had been renting when his legal troubles began and he

planned to spend the night with friends.

Humphrey said the appellate court ruling indicated that the justices believe

Skipper's appeal of the judgment against him is worthy of consideration.

"I think it's a phenomenal sign being sent. At least for me, it's a

vindication that the whole thing stunk," Humphrey said.

Municipal Court Judge Charles Rogers, who reluctantly sentenced Skipper to

prison despite Rogers' stated opposition to laws against marijuana, moved

to Portland, Ore. last week. Deputy District Attorney David Williams, who

prosecuted Skipper's case, said he could not comment on the appeal court

ruling.

He spent less than two months in prison, but his time there was not easy. He

said he was stabbed in the back by another inmate Feb. 18, and he has been

held in solitary confinement since then for his own protection.

His case has become a cause celebre for some gays and supporters of the

legalization of marijuana. Last week, the San Diego City Council passed a

resolution urging that people with AIDS be allowed the compassionate use of

marijuana to relieve their symptoms.

He has been on an emotional roller coaster since he went to trial last

October on charges of cultivating marijuana at his La Mesa house.

Skipper, whose companion died of AIDS in 1991, is infected with the virus

that causes AIDS but does not yet have the disease. He claims he has been

able to fight off the nausea and weight loss associated with the virus by

daily consumption of marijuana, which he grew at his home and consumed at

every meal, including on his cereal and in peanut-butter balls.

A jury agreed that Skipper had a medical necessity to consume marijuana and

acquitted him of two felony counts.

Authorities had been able to search Skipper's house without a warrant

because he had pleaded guilty in 1991 to growing marijuana and as part

of his probation had agreed to allow such searches.

Bolstered by his acquittal last year, Skipper returned to Judge Rogers and

asked that the remaining nine months of his probation on the 1991 charge be

lifted.

Rogers refused, but offered to remove the requirement that authorities could

search Skipper's house without a warrant.

Skipper initially refused the offer, although he changed his mind at the

hearing in which he was sentenced to prison for violating his probation.

Rogers said Skipper had shown he could not abide by the terms of his

probation because Skipper said he would continue to ingest marijuana.

He sentenced Skipper to 16 months in prison despite Humphrey's protests that

Skipper would complete his prison term before his appeal would be decided.

In ordering Skipper released from prison, the appeal court said he would

remain under his original probation, meaning he could be searched at any

time without a warrant.

Skipper did not comment yesterday when asked by a reporter if he planned to

continue consuming marijuana.

Humphrey estimated that Skipper's appeal will be resolved in four to six

months.

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San Diego Hemp Council sdhc@pro-sancho.cts.com