A 30-year-old man found in a South San Francisco motel room with six small bags of cocaine and a woman he picked up at a strip club asked a judge Wednesday for legal permission to use marijuana.
Larry J. Tiller was convicted in January on a single charge of drug possession for sales.
On Wednesday he was setenced to six months in the local lockup and three years probation; included in the probation terms were a mandated abstention from drugs and alcohol and regular testing for such substances.
That is when Tiller's attorney, William Johnston, argued that his client should be allowed to use marijuana while on probation, because he has a medical marijuana card, court records state.
The prosecution objected, arguing that the defendant has no medical condition requiring marijuana.
San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Leland Davis ordered a May 3 hearing set for both parties to argue the motion; he also ordered the Probation Department to prepare a report evaluating the defendant's medical condition.
Tiller was arrested March 15, 2011, at a Travel Lodge in South San Francisco, where an officer ran the license plate through records and determined the registered owner was subject to search and seizure for a prior conviction, court documents indicate.
Officers went to the motel room and found Tiller and a woman he had picked up at The Condor Club in San Francisco's Russian Hill.
Searching the room, they found marijuana and six small bags of cocaine.
Tiller denied that the drugs were his and officers placed him and the woman in the back of a patrol car, where their conversation was recorded, court papers state.
The young woman was crying and hysterical and told (the) suspect to tell the police the truth about the drugs," reads a District Attorney statement.
According to court records, the suspect told the woman not to worry and that police had no evidence against them.
Tiller remains out on bond for $20,000 bail.
