Point Reyes Light- November 25, 1998
Prosecutors won't give up pot case against Moon Hill podiatrist
County prosecutors have resurrected their marijuana-cultivation case against Dr. Alan Ager, the retired Nicasio podiatrist who has overcome three attempts to convict him since 1993.
Once again, Ager faces criminal pot charges stemming from a 1996 raid on his Tudor-style home above Roy's Redwoods. His case has been placed on the Feb. 23 docket of Marin Superior Court Judge John Sutro.
During the 1996 raid - the second on Ager's residence in three years - sheriff's deputies seized 135 marijuana plants.
But last year, after defense attorneys turned his trial into a test case of California's medical marijuana initiative, Ager narrowly escaped conviction with a 10-2 hung jury. The foot doctor testified at the time that he grew marijuana as medicine for his chronic back pain.
The hung jury left the case open for retrial, and after reviewing the case against Ager, county attorneys believe a Marin jury can be persuaded to convict him. "We believe it was not a matter of medical use or personal use," assistant district attorney Ed Berberian told The Light. "It was not a legitimate reason for the marijuana there to be grown."
Before the 1996 raid on Ager's house, the doctor twice faced trial for growing pot in Nicasio. However, a federal judge said lawmen searched his home illegally in 1993, and Superior Court Judge Lynn O'Malley in turn dismissed the case two years later.
Since his last trial, however, Ager has lost the support of the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana, where he was once a director. He also told The Light last year that he would no longer be represented by his long-standing defense attorney, Larry Lichter.