Salt Lake City Weekly: The Dopest Plea Deal Ever (Utah)
In about 2001, Martin Davies—a former Utah radio personality who was once named Best Talk Radio Host by City Weekly readers—found that his pension, unemployment insurance and other safety nets had evaporated in a company bankruptcy, reducing the 61-year-old’s income to just a $432 monthly Social Security check. Unemployed and uncertain of his future, Davies went hiking near Ogden, where he made a surprising discovery that would open an entirely new career path for him. He stumbled into a garden of marijuana.
The English-born Davies then saw an elderly gentleman appear from the woods.
“You’re not going to hurt my plants, are you?” the mysterious man said.
The old man explained he was sick and grew the plants for his own medicinal use. Davies has arthritis in his hip, which he soon learned was greatly alleviated by the use of marijuana.
Shortly thereafter, Davies grew a small amount of marijuana for his personal use, but his small operation didn’t stay that way. “A brother-in-law happened on to [Davies’ marijuana] and indicated that he would like to buy it. [Davies] let him do that, and that began the trip that got us here,” said defense attorney Bernie Allen during a speech in court that was also the source for the old-man-in-the-woods story above.
“Here” was the U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City in 2008, where Davies was facing 10 years to life in prison after police discovered three houses and a storage unit stuffed with hydroponic marijuana growing operations. More than 1,000 plants were found in various stages of development at the four locations. According to warrants, “The Martin David Davies Marijuana Trafficking Organization” had been pegged by the Drug Enforcement Administration as a multi-state marijuana source.
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