Region Briefly 7/24

Lawyer wants murder charge tossed

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - The lawyer for a former transit officer charged in the fatal shooting of an unarmed man is seeking to have the murder charge against his client thrown out.

Defense attorney Michael Rains says he will present a motion today to throw out Alameda County Superior Court Judge C. Don Clay's decision to have Johannes Mehserle stand trial for murder.

The 27-year-old Mehserle was working as a Bay Area Rapid Transit officer when he shot Oscar Grant after Grant was pulled off a train for allegedly fighting.

Rains has argued that Mehserle meant to use his stun gun, not fire his handgun, to try to restrain Grant. He maintains that there is not enough evidence for the murder charge.

Mehserle has pleaded not guilty in the case.

$1.2 billion worth of pot seized by agents

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - Federal and state agents have arrested 83 people for growing more than $1.2 billion worth of marijuana in an ongoing crackdown on illegal pot gardens in California's Sierra Nevada range.

Local officials said several Mexican marijuana-growing cartels helped set up the grow sites scattered throughout rocky mountainsides of eastern Fresno County, and warned more arrests were likely as the sweep continues.

More than 318,000 marijuana plants were destroyed in the operation, which also netted nearly $41,000 in cash, 25 weapons and two vehicles, Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims said Thursday.

"You can imagine looking from a helicopter down onto a forest, there are a lot of different shades of green. It took some specially trained personnel to spot where the marijuana was growing," Mims said. "We found it planted on hillsides and gullies, and some of the plants had grown to be eight feet tall."

While the bust was large enough to merit a visit Wednesday from Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy, it accounts for a small percentage of the pot typically seized in California each year.

"Operation Save Our Sierra" began several months ago, and has involved more than 300 personnel from 17 local, state and federal agencies.