California, Yuba

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Acquittal may not prevent prison time

By Rob Young/Appeal-Democrat
January 23, 2007


Matthew Charles Griffin of Linda was acquitted last month of two murders in a botched marijuana robbery but is expected to still face prison time.

Yuba County Judge Kathleen O'Connor ruled Monday that Griffin's involvement in the crime was a violation of probation conditions imposed after a 2004 conviction for possession of a stolen firearm, said Deputy District Attorney Michael Byrne.

O'Connor based her ruling on a preponderance of evidence, a lower standard that applies in probation violation cases. A guilty beyond a reasonable doubt standard applies in a trial, said Byrne.

O'Connor, who presided over Griffin's jury trial on the murder charge, is scheduled to sentence him at 1:15 p.m. March 19 for the probation violation.

Griffin could receive from 16 months to three years in prison, said Byrne.

Christopher Michael Hance, 21, and Scott Eugene Davis, 19, were shot to death during the attempted robbery of medical marijuana in Hance's backyard on Chestnut Road in Olivehurst on Sept. 27, 2005.

Griffin, 23, was released after the jury acquitted him in December and will remain free until his sentencing.

A jury trial for Michael John Huggins, who allegedly fired the fatal shots, begins today with jury selection in Yuba County Superior Court. Besides Huggins and Griffin, there originally were four other defendants in the case.

Appeal-Democrat reporter Rob Young can be reached at 749-4710. You may e-mail him at ryoung@appeal-democrat.com.

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Coming Soon: Marijuana store in Linda

By Ben van der Meer/Appeal-Democrat
June 30, 2009 - 1:57PM

Yuba County will get its first medical marijuana store within the next week, with a Yuba City man in the final stages of opening a cooperative dispensary in a Linda strip mall.

Marysville Healing Center, as owner Chander Sidher plans to call it, will have a small retail store in the front and a secured area in the back where medical marijuana cardholders will be able to buy different varieties of pot for smoking as well as in edible and balm forms.

"I really believe in this," said Sidher, 50, whose store will be at 1600 North Beale Road. "I don't think we need to charge people $200 to go to doctor's offices and get pills for pain."

Sidher, who said he has all necessary permits for the store, said he got interested in medical marijuana because of his own arthritis from years as a contractor and his son's experience with lingering pain from a car accident.

His son's doctor prescribed him vicodin, a powerful drug with some narcotic qualities that made his son unable to work. Sidher said he feels compared to that, medical marijuana is safer and smarter.

The store, about 1,700 square feet, will open early next week, Sidher said.

But even though the dispensary's shelving and displays are not yet complete, the word is already out. A Yuba County man who did not want to be identified came into the store this week in search of a prescription, and said he'd read a newspaper ad that tipped him off to the store.

Sidher said he's affiliated with a marijuana collective in Sacramento with as many as 25 percent of its patients traveling from Butte, Yuba and Sutter counties.