People v. Null

Opinion

ANDREEN, J. Defendant Kathryn Wanda Null was found guilty upon jury trial of cultivating marijuana and possession of marijuana for sale. (Health & Saf. Code, §§ 11358 and 11359.) She appeals from a sentence admitting her to probation.

I. Facts

After conducting an aerial search and utilizing parcel maps and recorder’s documents, Detective Conley of the Tulare County Sheriff’s Department obtained a search warrant to seize marijuana which he had observed on defendant’s 50-acre parcel of land.

The subsequent search netted two marijuana gardens with six-month-old plants. The gardens were in a ravine about 200 to 250 feet below defendant’s mobilehome. A sophisticated drip irrigation system was utilized. The waterline fed out of the pump which supplied water to the mobilehome; the electrical line used to run that pump was tied into the mobilehome’s electrical service.

[851]Near the gardens Conley found manure, poisons, plastic cement, pliers, irrigation parts, wirecutters and shovels. Near the mobilehome Conley found manure and hoses similar to that used in the garden.

While Conley conducted the search for the gardens, Sergeant McLaughlin searched Null’s mobilehome. He found two baggies of marijuana, some checks made out to feed companies and nurseries, numerous receipts from hardware stores and nurseries, a grant deed to the property, a tool box which contained directions for running the pump, electrical conduit, screwdrivers and pipes, and some photographs.

Null’s defense was that she did not know that marijuana was being grown on her property. She had purchased numerous garden items to help in her landscaping and in a garden (not marijuana) that she grew on the property. She never went to where the marijuana gardens were located because she was afraid of rattlesnakes.

II. Failure to Comply With Discovery Order*

VIII. Aiding and Abetting

The People requested and the court gave CALJIC No. 3.01 (aiding and abetting): “A person aids and abets the commission of a crime if, with knowledge of the unlawful purpose of the perpetrator of the crime, he aids, promotes, encourages or instigates by act or advice the commission of such crime.