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From A1
wallowa.com
POT
Continued from Page A1
prosecution has not been the
case historically.
The Oregon State Legisla-
ture has already taken action
to protect the identities of cit-
izens purchasing marijuana
legally within the state and
to allow a recreational mari-
juana store to quickly change
its license to medical to avoid
federal obstacles.
Nevertheless, if the cit-
ies wish to create obstacles to
counter a “yes” vote, there are
a number of ways to accom-
plish that. Those include land
use code restrictions; denying
business licenses; or making
changes in the development
code that would exclude any
business that violates state or
federal law.
City Administrator Michele
Young reminded the coun-
cil members that the city had
spent time examining options
when the issue first arose in
2014.
“I guess we’ll just revisit
that,” she said.
To that end, they accepted
the suggestion of the mari-
SAMARD
Continued from Page A1
fourth degree and a charge of harass-
ment. Samard was found guilty on the
assault and harassment charges.
The two-day trial took place on
Dec. 13-14.
The incident stemmed from an
alleged drug deal gone bad in July
2015. According to Williams’ open-
ing statement, Brandon Matthews
received a call from a friend want-
ing to buy methamphetamine. Mat-
thews traveled to the apartment
where a deal was transacted in one of
the rooms with the friend. Williams
said that Samard attacked Matthews
in the room and demanded money.
Schaeffer argued the case was
about overreaching on the part of
the state and the police. He said the
two entities were trying to connect
the dots on certain crimes. He proph-
esied the jury would find the dots
didn’t connect beyond a reasonable
doubt.
He noted that Matthews did not
report the alleged crime until a year
after it happened. The attorney also
said that the defendant was upset
with Matthews for selling metham-
phetamine to his girlfriend’s daugh-
ter and confronted Matthews and an
altercation ensued in which Samard
brandished a gun only because he
feared his accuser would take it from
him.
“At most, this is a case of harass-
ment,” Schaeffer said.
Matthews testified he had a crimi-
nal history, much of it drug and theft
related. He also admitted to using
drugs: “Any I could get my hands
on.” He added he had been clean for
juana coalition to read Ore-
gon’s 48-pages of rules and
regulations for marijuana cul-
tivation and sale.
At the time the city chose to
“opt out,” it gave as a primary
reason the fact that the state
had not come up with a plan to
manage marijuana.
The situation is different
now, Thompson said.
“This is not going to be
a half-way endeavor,” said
Thompson. “We welcome
police (oversight). Just like
when I operated a bar, I wanted
them walking through. I want
their presence to be known.”
more than a year.
Matthews said he resided on the
Alpine House apartments on 303
Residence St. in Enterprise when a
friend called wanting to buy meth-
amphetamine. He went to the friend’s
house, where Matthews was invited
to a room, and he sat and smoked
marijuana with the friend. He said he
also had a bag of methamphetamine
and some money on his lap.
The friend asked his opinion of
the defendant and after Matthews
replied, Samard burst through the
door, threw a drink in his face and
punched him while he gathered the
methamphetamine and money. Mat-
thews was knocked from his chair
but stood up and began to trade blows
with Samard. According to the testi-
mony, the defendant turned around
during the fight and turned back with
a gun, smashing Matthews across the
mouth with the barrel of the pistol.
He then ordered Matthews to get
on the ground and turn out his pock-
ets, which Matthews refused to do, so
Samard told him that he would hurt
and kill Matthews’ family members,
including his daughter if he refused,
according to court documents.
“I had that mentality then, that
nobody was going to take anything
from me,” Matthews said.
Matthews testified he suffered
two broken front teeth, two split lips
and a small cut on his forehead from
the incident.
On the stand, he did not mention
an incident specifically stated in the
harassment count of the indictment
that stated Samard had placed the
gun in his mouth.
Matthews said he did not call law
enforcement at the time of the inci-
dent because of his drug use and anti-
Marijuana sales supporters
have barraged County Com-
missioners and cities with evi-
dence and personal stories of
how the use of marijuana has
benefited their health, and now
that the first numbers are tal-
lied, Thompson was able to
emphasize the financial bene-
fits to cities.
In October 2016, the Ore-
gon Department of Reve-
nue sent out $85 million in
pot taxes for schools, public
health, police and local gov-
ernments. The 10 percent (of
state total taxes) tax available
to local government is distrib-
‘YOU MAY NOT HAVE
BEEN FOUND GUILTY
OF THE FELONIES, BUT
WHAT YOU DID WAS
DEPLORABLE.’
— Judge Russell B. West
Wallowa County Circuit Court
law enforcement feelings. He added
he decided to tell law enforcement
of the affair when he was later ques-
tioned by police, who he said had
heard about the incident.
On cross-examination, Matthews
admitted that he had not been honest
in the past and had suffered an over-
dose of methamphetamine and Oxy-
codone near the time of the incident.
He also could not pinpoint the month
the event occurred.
Schaeffer also unsuccessfully
tried to get Matthews to admit his
broken front teeth stemmed from
drug abuse rather than Samard’s gun.
He did get Matthews to admit that
the muzzle, not the barrel of the gun,
hit him in the mouth, something later
partially contradicted by evidence.
The other party to the drug sale,
Joshua Clayton, testified that he did
not remember a conversation about
Samard prior to the incident and that
Matthews did not have time to put
anything in his pockets before the
attack. The witness could not specifi-
– CULINARY AMBITION –
January 10, 2018
Wallowa County Chieftain
uted proportionally based on
the number of licenses issued
for premises located in each
city and is earmarked for use
by local law enforcement to
assist them in regulation recre-
ational marijuana.
Local governments may
also tax sales within their
cities for another three
percent to be used as
they see fit.
Thompson also empha-
sized the collateral benefits
to the cities and gave a per-
sonal report of job
growth and commer-
cial revitalization she
and others had observed taking
place in cities that allowed the
sale of recreational and medi-
cal marijuana.
cally remember whether Samard had
hit Matthews in the mouth with the
gun. He also said he did not set up
Matthews for a robbery by the defen-
dant and that no robbery occurred
because Samard let Matthews pick
up his belongings before he left.
The witness also stated that he did
not hear Samard threaten Matthews’
family.
The following day, Judge West
allowed Williams request that lesser
assault charges be included for the
jury to consider as well as the first
degree assault charge. These included
third and fourth degree assault. The
first degree robbery charges were
also withdrawn on West’s order.
A lab tech with the Oregon state
police testified that she had taken
swabs of the weapon involved,
including a small brown stain near
the ejection port of the pistol. She
also testified that the gun was sent
back to Enterprise Police Department
for date discrepancies.
The department fixed the issue
and sent the gun back to the state and
then sent it to a DNA lab for analy-
sis. Another tech who did the DNA
analysis testified that he compared
the swabs from the gun with swabs
taken from Matthews. He stated that
the DNA swabs from both items
matched.
On cross examination, Schaef-
fer tried to show that it was possi-
ble during the chain of custody of
the gun that it was tampered with.
He asked for the removal of the gun
from evidence after the lunch break.
West denied the request.
Samard testified that he entered
Clayton’s room of the apartment
with a gun in his waistband. He said
he punched Matthews in the mouth
and that during the altercation, he felt
Matthews reaching for the gun and
he took the gun out and pointed it at
Matthews but did not threaten or hit
him with the gun.
The jury returned to the court-
room after less than three hours of
deliberation. Williams asked for
a poll of the jury on the other two
charges. The polling found the jury
voted 11-1 to acquit on the original
charge and voted 12-0 to acquit on
the third-degree assault charge.
Williams encouraged the judge
to consider Samard’s long criminal
history upon sentencing and asked
for a 270 day executed sentence on
the assault charge and 30 days on
the harassment conviction. Schaef-
fer noted Samard had already served
nearly five months in jail on the
charges and asked that any additional
time sentenced would be to work
crew or community service.
Samard said he took responsibil-
ity for his actions and wanted to apol-
ogize for his actions to Matthews.
The victim did not attend the sen-
tencing hearing.
“You may not have been found
guilty of the felonies, but what you
did was deplorable,” West said. He
also noted that although the jury did
not convict Samard for using the gun
in the crime, DNA evidence indi-
cated he had.
“You’re lucky you didn’t get con-
victed on Measure 11. Your lawyer
did a good job,” West said.
The judge sentenced Samard
to eight months in jail along with a
$500 fine and $500 in attorney fees
on the assault charge with credit for
time served. He added 60 days jail
time to be served concurrently for the
harassment charge.
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