AMERICAN INDIAN GETS PEYOTE BACK : RULING ON POSSESSION FOLLOWED.Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer Ventura County sheriff's officials reluctantly followed a judge's order and released 250 pounds of peyote peyote (pāō`tē), spineless cactus (Lophophora williamsii), ingested by indigenous people in Mexico and the United States to produce visions. Wednesday to an American Indian American Indian or Native American or Amerindian or indigenous American Any member of the various aboriginal peoples of the Western Hemisphere, with the exception of the Eskimos (Inuit) and the Aleuts. minister, ending a weeklong fight over the material confiscated con·fis·cate tr.v. con·fis·cat·ed, con·fis·cat·ing, con·fis·cates 1. To seize (private property) for the public treasury. 2. To seize by or as if by authority. See Synonyms at appropriate. adj. last month. Kenneth Littlefish Durant left the sheriff's property room at the county Government Center with burlap bags packed with 10,000 peyote buds a day after Judge Steven Hintz ruled Durant could legally possess the hallucinogenic hal·lu·ci·no·gen n. A substance that induces hallucination. [hallucin(ation) + -gen.] hal·lu cactus. Durant is a member of the Native American Church Native American Church, Native American religious group whose beliefs blend fundamentalist Christian elements with pan–Native American moral principles. and federal law protects the right of church members to possess and use peyote in religious ceremonies. Sheriff's deputies seized the peyote after pulling over a van they said was weaving in traffic in Oak View on Nov. 22. The county District Attorney's Office has not filed charges against the driver, Paul Skyhorse Durant, or the passenger, Buzz Berry, but sheriff's officials refused to release the peyote because the case was still under investigation. ``We're disappointed in the judge's ruling,'' said Capt. Mark Ball, a sheriff's spokesman. ``It was pretty clear that they hadn't obtained it legally.'' The two men, both members of American Indian nations, said they were transporting the peyote from Texas, where the peyote was grown, to the Squawmish Nation in Washington state. Sheriff's officials, however, contend they purchased the peyote from the Texas distributor with false documents. Ball said the Texas Department of Public Safety The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) is a department of the government of the state of Texas. The DPS is responsible for statewide law enforcement and vehicle regulation. The department is headed by the three member Public Safety Commission. is investigating the transaction. Hintz released the peyote to Durant, who is the brother of Paul Skyhorse Durant, after he testified he is a minister authorized to possess and use peyote. The judge also ordered the release of other items confiscated, including ceremonial tools. Sheriff's officials acknowledge destroying two gallon-size containers and the liquid contents, which included peyote buds. ``It's nonsense. It's outrageous,'' said Deputy Public Defender public defender, governmental official who represents indigent persons accused of crime. U.S. Supreme Court decisions expanding the right to counsel to pretrial proceedings and holding that a person cannot be sentenced to even one day in jail unless a lawyer was Gil Maguire, one of the attorneys representing the American Indians American Indians: see Americas, antiquity and prehistory of the; Natives, Middle American; Natives, North American; Natives, South American. in court. ``If they're so adept at handling crime evidence, why didn't they analyze something that amounts to tea.'' Ball said sheriff's officials feared that the contents were toxic and saved only evidence samples. Public defenders contended throughout the court proceedings that the prosecutors and sheriff's officials clearly violated the religious freedom of the American Indians. |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion