Three agents from the Siskiyou County Narcotics Taskforce were called to testify during a pretrial hearing last week for Katrina Howard, who was arrested on drug charges in January while she was a member of the Mount Shasta City Council.
Lead prosecutor Martha Aker presented sufficient evidence to convince Judge Robert Kaster that the charges against Howard and her co-defendant, Jules Unger, would stand up during trial.
Cross examination by Howard’s lawyer, John Lawrence, and Unger’s court appointed attorney, William Kolkey, was not enough to convince Kaster that the evidence against their clients was invalid, and Howard was held to answer on three felony charges, including possession of marijuana for sale, maintaining a place where marijuana is processed and sold, and conspiracy to commit a crime, along with three special allegations of being armed with a firearm.
Unger, age 21, was also held to answer on similar charges after the hearing, which took two days to complete.
Siskiyou County deputy Earl Klapperich, who posed as a high school student at both Yreka and Mount Shasta High Schools last year in an undercover operation conducted by the SCNTF, testified that he and an unnamed “confidential informant” had purchased marijuana from Unger in “controlled buys” on two separate occasions.
The first, he said, occurred on Dec. 30, 2008, in the driveway of Howard’s house in Mount Shasta. The second, approximately a week later, took place at a Mount Shasta hotel Howard managed.
Both buys, Klapperich stated, were set up by the informant, who was later revealed during SCNTF agent Steve Shannon’s testimony to be a man who agreed to do undercover work as part of a deal cut with the SCNTF after a felony arrest late in 2008.
In exchange for his work with SCNTF on four prosecutable cases, it was agreed that the man would receive a misdemeanor conviction, Shannon testified.
Shannon further testified that the informant had purchased pot from Unger two or three times before beginning undercover work and had observed him selling pot to a 17 year-old female from Mount Shasta.
Shannon said the informant had seen “six or seven ounces” of processed marijuana at Howard’s residence, as well as firearms, including a shotgun with no stock, which Unger told him was “easier to use in case anyone broke in to steal their marijuana.”
The informant told the SCNTF that he had been to Howard’s second residence in Garberville, Calif., in Nov. 2008, where a large amount of marijuana was being trimmed, Shannon testified. The informant had also overheard Unger on the phone with Howard, discussing the sale of fifteen pounds of marijuana to unknown subjects in Redding.
In the investigation of Howard’s and Unger’s case, the informant was utilized three times, twice for controlled buys and once for an attempted buy of two pounds of marijuana, Shannon said.
Each buy, Klapperich explained, was recorded via body wires and closely monitored by SCNTF agents. Both Klapperich and the informant were searched before and after the buys in order to ensure “nothing is brought in or out” of the operation, he said.
The third attempted controlled buy occurred on Jan. 9, 2009, when the informant and Klapperich contacted Howard at her workplace, Shannon stated. The two men told her they wanted to buy two pounds of marijuana, to which Howard responded Unger would “hook him up,” and invited them inside the manager’s apartment of the hotel.
Though Unger said he didn’t have a full two pounds ready for sale, he made arrangements for them to meet the following day to purchase what he did have. The informants met with Unger at Howard’s residence on Jan. 10 and purchased nine ounces of marijuana for $1,200 cash, with the agreement that they’d get the rest in a few days.
In total, Shannon testified, Klapperich and the informant purchased just under 270 grams of marijuana from Unger for a total of $1,270.
Lawrence and Kolkey asked Klapperich and Shannon several questions regarding their training in identifying marijuana. Both officers reviewed their past training and experience in cases involving marijuana.
Kolkey asked Shannon several questions about the confidential informant, and how the SCNTF had managed to secure his assistance following his arrest by the California Highway Patrol.
According to Shannon, the informant faced felony drug and firearms charges, and wanted to lessen his time served in jail if prosecuted. Shannon said the informant offered his services to the SCNTF, and a contract was signed specifying the details of the offer.
Prosecuting attorney Martha Aker then called SCNTF agent Frank Barrett to the stand, who described conducting a search on Howard’s residence on Jan. 14. He said agents with the SCNTF, the Tehama County Narcotics Task Force, Siskiyou County Sheriff’s deputies, and several officers from the Mount Shasta Police Department assisted when they arrived at the residence around 9 a.m. and used a metal ram to open the front door.
Immediately upon entering the house, Barrett said, he noticed a strong odor of marijuana. Officers located Howard and Unger in the residence. They were handcuffed and placed in the living room area. Later, he said, they were arrested and placed together in a MSPD patrol vehicle, where a tape recorder was placed to capture their conversation.
Barrett said roughly 32 pounds of marijuana was found in Howard’s residence and in the attached garage.
Plastic bags and paper grocery sacks of processed marijuana were found in the kitchen, as well as scissors with marijuana residue on them. In the cabinet above the stove, Barrett said agents found a small set of digital scales and a marble-type cutting board which also had marijuana residue on them.
In one of the bedrooms, which appeared to have been used as an office area, several bags of processed marijuana were found, along with a post office digital scale, a semi automatic rifle, a twelve-gauge shotgun with a pistol grip, and various types of ammunition.
Over 13,000 grams of marijuana were located in the garage in packages, duffel bags and 50 gallon barrels, Barrett said.
A futon and men’s clothing were found in another of the bedrooms, and the third appeared to have been Howard’s bedroom, Barrett testified. A baggie containing eight grams of marijuana was found in a wicker basket near the door of this room, Barrett said.
Aker asked Barrett if he believed the marijuana recovered from Howard’s home was possessed for sale, to which Barrett answered he did.
“Firstly, the amount of 32 pounds is not for personal use in my opinion,” he said. He also mentioned the amount found packaged in the bedroom was the exact amount the informant had ordered (the balance from the attempted two pound purchase), and said the only amount packaged for personal use was found in Howard’s room. He said the residue-covered paper and plastic bags, along with the scales indicated to Barrett that pot was probably being processed for sale in the home.
Barrett added the firearms, which were not registered and were located near the marijuana, indicated the defendants “knew they had a valuable thing they were selling, and needed a way to protect it.”
Aker also asked Barrett about an interview he conducted with a 16 year-old male from Weed in March 2009. The juvenile, Barrett said, was identified from a photograph found in Howard’s home during the search. In the photograph, the juvenile was trimming marijuana, Barrett said.
When the juvenile was located with help from the Weed Police Department, he admitted to Barrett that he’d travelled with Howard in her vehicle to a location in Garberville which he described as “Katrina’s house,” where he trimmed marijuana in Nov. 2008.
During cross examination, Lawrence asked Barrett whether or not the plant material found in Howard’s residence had been chemically tested for THC. Barrett answered no, it had not, however he said he had personally inspected the material, and testified it was, in fact, marijuana.
Kolkey asked Barrett whether or not any evidence had been found in the residence to verify who lived there. Barrett said there was evidence found in Howard’s bedroom confirming her name and address, and Unger’s wallet, containing his driver’s license, was found in the dining room area.
After both the prosecution and defense were finished, Lawrence contested the special allegation of being armed with a firearm, stating that there wasn’t sufficient evidence against Howard to indicate that she had been personally armed.
Kolkey joined Lawrence in his comment, and asked Judge Kaster to disregard the special allegation.
After considering the evidence, Judge Kaster stated that he did find enough evidence to suggest Howard and Unger should be held to answer for the charges during a trial, including the special firearm allegations.
He ordered both defendants to be present at an arraignment at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 14. At that time, Siskiyou County District Attorney Kirk Andrus said, they will be formally read the charges against them. Andrus added that he hoped a trial date would be set at that time.
“This isn’t the kind of case where we usually allow plea bargaining,” Andrus said, “although this isn’t your average case... A plea bargain would depend on whether or not [Howard] wants to admit guilt.
“[The pretrial] is just a step in the process,” Andrus continued. “It’s a part of respecting [Howard’s] rights, and preparing evidence for trial.”
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Three agents from the Siskiyou County Narcotics Taskforce were called to testify during a pretrial hearing last week for Katrina Howard, who was arrested on drug charges in January while she was a member of the Mount Shasta City Council.
Lead prosecutor Martha Aker presented sufficient evidence to convince Judge Robert Kaster that the charges against Howard and her co-defendant, Jules Unger, would stand up during trial.
Cross examination by Howard’s lawyer, John Lawrence, and Unger’s court appointed attorney, William Kolkey, was not enough to convince Kaster that the evidence against their clients was invalid, and Howard was held to answer on three felony charges, including possession of marijuana for sale, maintaining a place where marijuana is processed and sold, and conspiracy to commit a crime, along with three special allegations of being armed with a firearm.
Unger, age 21, was also held to answer on similar charges after the hearing, which took two days to complete.
Siskiyou County deputy Earl Klapperich, who posed as a high school student at both Yreka and Mount Shasta High Schools last year in an undercover operation conducted by the SCNTF, testified that he and an unnamed “confidential informant” had purchased marijuana from Unger in “controlled buys” on two separate occasions.
The first, he said, occurred on Dec. 30, 2008, in the driveway of Howard’s house in Mount Shasta. The second, approximately a week later, took place at a Mount Shasta hotel Howard managed.
Both buys, Klapperich stated, were set up by the informant, who was later revealed during SCNTF agent Steve Shannon’s testimony to be a man who agreed to do undercover work as part of a deal cut with the SCNTF after a felony arrest late in 2008.
In exchange for his work with SCNTF on four prosecutable cases, it was agreed that the man would receive a misdemeanor conviction, Shannon testified.
Shannon further testified that the informant had purchased pot from Unger two or three times before beginning undercover work and had observed him selling pot to a 17 year-old female from Mount Shasta.
Shannon said the informant had seen “six or seven ounces” of processed marijuana at Howard’s residence, as well as firearms, including a shotgun with no stock, which Unger told him was “easier to use in case anyone broke in to steal their marijuana.”
The informant told the SCNTF that he had been to Howard’s second residence in Garberville, Calif., in Nov. 2008, where a large amount of marijuana was being trimmed, Shannon testified. The informant had also overheard Unger on the phone with Howard, discussing the sale of fifteen pounds of marijuana to unknown subjects in Redding.
In the investigation of Howard’s and Unger’s case, the informant was utilized three times, twice for controlled buys and once for an attempted buy of two pounds of marijuana, Shannon said.
Each buy, Klapperich explained, was recorded via body wires and closely monitored by SCNTF agents. Both Klapperich and the informant were searched before and after the buys in order to ensure “nothing is brought in or out” of the operation, he said.
The third attempted controlled buy occurred on Jan. 9, 2009, when the informant and Klapperich contacted Howard at her workplace, Shannon stated. The two men told her they wanted to buy two pounds of marijuana, to which Howard responded Unger would “hook him up,” and invited them inside the manager’s apartment of the hotel.
Though Unger said he didn’t have a full two pounds ready for sale, he made arrangements for them to meet the following day to purchase what he did have. The informants met with Unger at Howard’s residence on Jan. 10 and purchased nine ounces of marijuana for $1,200 cash, with the agreement that they’d get the rest in a few days.
In total, Shannon testified, Klapperich and the informant purchased just under 270 grams of marijuana from Unger for a total of $1,270.
Lawrence and Kolkey asked Klapperich and Shannon several questions regarding their training in identifying marijuana. Both officers reviewed their past training and experience in cases involving marijuana.
Kolkey asked Shannon several questions about the confidential informant, and how the SCNTF had managed to secure his assistance following his arrest by the California Highway Patrol.
According to Shannon, the informant faced felony drug and firearms charges, and wanted to lessen his time served in jail if prosecuted. Shannon said the informant offered his services to the SCNTF, and a contract was signed specifying the details of the offer.
Prosecuting attorney Martha Aker then called SCNTF agent Frank Barrett to the stand, who described conducting a search on Howard’s residence on Jan. 14. He said agents with the SCNTF, the Tehama County Narcotics Task Force, Siskiyou County Sheriff’s deputies, and several officers from the Mount Shasta Police Department assisted when they arrived at the residence around 9 a.m. and used a metal ram to open the front door.
Immediately upon entering the house, Barrett said, he noticed a strong odor of marijuana. Officers located Howard and Unger in the residence. They were handcuffed and placed in the living room area. Later, he said, they were arrested and placed together in a MSPD patrol vehicle, where a tape recorder was placed to capture their conversation.
Barrett said roughly 32 pounds of marijuana was found in Howard’s residence and in the attached garage.
Plastic bags and paper grocery sacks of processed marijuana were found in the kitchen, as well as scissors with marijuana residue on them. In the cabinet above the stove, Barrett said agents found a small set of digital scales and a marble-type cutting board which also had marijuana residue on them.
In one of the bedrooms, which appeared to have been used as an office area, several bags of processed marijuana were found, along with a post office digital scale, a semi automatic rifle, a twelve-gauge shotgun with a pistol grip, and various types of ammunition.
Over 13,000 grams of marijuana were located in the garage in packages, duffel bags and 50 gallon barrels, Barrett said.
A futon and men’s clothing were found in another of the bedrooms, and the third appeared to have been Howard’s bedroom, Barrett testified. A baggie containing eight grams of marijuana was found in a wicker basket near the door of this room, Barrett said.
Aker asked Barrett if he believed the marijuana recovered from Howard’s home was possessed for sale, to which Barrett answered he did.
“Firstly, the amount of 32 pounds is not for personal use in my opinion,” he said. He also mentioned the amount found packaged in the bedroom was the exact amount the informant had ordered (the balance from the attempted two pound purchase), and said the only amount packaged for personal use was found in Howard’s room. He said the residue-covered paper and plastic bags, along with the scales indicated to Barrett that pot was probably being processed for sale in the home.
Barrett added the firearms, which were not registered and were located near the marijuana, indicated the defendants “knew they had a valuable thing they were selling, and needed a way to protect it.”
Aker also asked Barrett about an interview he conducted with a 16 year-old male from Weed in March 2009. The juvenile, Barrett said, was identified from a photograph found in Howard’s home during the search. In the photograph, the juvenile was trimming marijuana, Barrett said.
When the juvenile was located with help from the Weed Police Department, he admitted to Barrett that he’d travelled with Howard in her vehicle to a location in Garberville which he described as “Katrina’s house,” where he trimmed marijuana in Nov. 2008.
During cross examination, Lawrence asked Barrett whether or not the plant material found in Howard’s residence had been chemically tested for THC. Barrett answered no, it had not, however he said he had personally inspected the material, and testified it was, in fact, marijuana.
Kolkey asked Barrett whether or not any evidence had been found in the residence to verify who lived there. Barrett said there was evidence found in Howard’s bedroom confirming her name and address, and Unger’s wallet, containing his driver’s license, was found in the dining room area.
After both the prosecution and defense were finished, Lawrence contested the special allegation of being armed with a firearm, stating that there wasn’t sufficient evidence against Howard to indicate that she had been personally armed.
Kolkey joined Lawrence in his comment, and asked Judge Kaster to disregard the special allegation.
After considering the evidence, Judge Kaster stated that he did find enough evidence to suggest Howard and Unger should be held to answer for the charges during a trial, including the special firearm allegations.
He ordered both defendants to be present at an arraignment at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 14. At that time, Siskiyou County District Attorney Kirk Andrus said, they will be formally read the charges against them. Andrus added that he hoped a trial date would be set at that time.
“This isn’t the kind of case where we usually allow plea bargaining,” Andrus said, “although this isn’t your average case... A plea bargain would depend on whether or not [Howard] wants to admit guilt.
“[The pretrial] is just a step in the process,” Andrus continued. “It’s a part of respecting [Howard’s] rights, and preparing evidence for trial.”
