[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]A man who told sheriff's deputies that a higher power ordered him to grow marijuana is on trial in federal court this week, after Broadwater County deputies discovered more than 700 plants in his home east of Canyon Ferry Reservoir last March.[/font][font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Deputy Mark Weidman said that Mark Culkin - who also goes by the name Helios - said he is on a spiritual mission, part of which involves growing what he calls talma, or marijuana.
"He had two reasons to grow it," Weidman testified in U.S. District Court on Monday. "He was ordered by Lord Malacheck to do it, and it was supposed to help with his microplasma syndrome."
That "order" led to the arrest of Culkin, 51, and his roommate, Peter Sollberger, on charges including manufacturing and distributing marijuana. Culkin's trial before Chief United States District Judge Donald W. Molloy in Helena is expected to end today; Sollberger's trial will start afterward.
Culkin and Sollberger came to officers' attention on March 8, after Culkin was shot in the neck in what he and Sollberger said was a robbery by masked men at the Ray Creek home they rented together.
http://www.helenair.com/articles/2004/11/23/helena/a01112304_04.txt
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[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Deputy Mark Weidman said that Mark Culkin - who also goes by the name Helios - said he is on a spiritual mission, part of which involves growing what he calls talma, or marijuana.
"He had two reasons to grow it," Weidman testified in U.S. District Court on Monday. "He was ordered by Lord Malacheck to do it, and it was supposed to help with his microplasma syndrome."
That "order" led to the arrest of Culkin, 51, and his roommate, Peter Sollberger, on charges including manufacturing and distributing marijuana. Culkin's trial before Chief United States District Judge Donald W. Molloy in Helena is expected to end today; Sollberger's trial will start afterward.
Culkin and Sollberger came to officers' attention on March 8, after Culkin was shot in the neck in what he and Sollberger said was a robbery by masked men at the Ray Creek home they rented together.
http://www.helenair.com/articles/2004/11/23/helena/a01112304_04.txt
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