Date: Sat, 26 Aug 1995 18:53:47 -0400
From: [o--s--n] at [calyx.com] (Carl E. Olsen)
Subject: Judge Combs (KY): busted

Combs acknowledges using pot
Former high court judge  says it helps him sleep 
By Lee Mueller
Eastern Kentucky Bureau

 Former state Supreme Court Justice Combs acknowledged yesterday that he
 smokes marijuana at night, saying the illegal drug helps him sleep. 
 Combs, 71, who resigned his seat on the state's highest court in June 1993
for health reasons, said in a telephone interview that he discovered "quite
some time ago" that marijuana makes him sleepy.
  He did not say precisely how long he has been smoking pot.
 "I sleep like a baby" afterward, said Combs, who has had two strokes and
suffers from a memory disorder. "I have a sleeping problem... I probably
could have gotten a prescription for it if I'd asked my doctor, but I never
did."
 The medicinal use of marijuana is banned in the United States, although it
was allowed by the federal government on a case-by-case basis from 1976 to
1992 for conditions such as glaucoma and nausea caused by chemotherapy.
 Combs and his 16-year old son were charged last week with cultivation and
possession of marijuana after Kentucky State Police searched his Floyd County
home and reported finding 4 ounces of processed pot, drug paraphernalia and
one plant growing in a container outside the home. 
 Combs did not say yesterday whether he owned any of the marijuana found in
his home, but he indicated he considered what he does at home to be his own
business.
 "I never go out and I never drive" after smoking marijuana, he said. "I just
stay in the privacy of my own bedroom.... 
 "One joint would probably last me one or two days." 
 The search of his home upset Combs and his attorney, Eric Conn, who have
suggested that some evidence was planted by state police. Conn also has filed
an affidavit by Combs son, Alfred Ghent Combs, that claims troopers appeared
to be pressured by Floyd District Judge James Allen Jr. to find something
during the search.
 State police have denied the allegations,. and Allen said this week he was
bewildered by the affidavit. "I've always gotten along with Dan Jack," Allen
said.
 Conn, however, said Wednesday he has obtained corroborating evidence to the
younger Combs sworn statement from Janice Keller, a friend of Combs from
South Carolina.
 Allen has scheduled a hearing Tuesday in Floyd District Court on the
misdemeanor charges against Combs and a motion by Conn for Allen to step down
from the case.
 Appeals Court Judge Paul D. Gudgel, a member of the state's Judicial
Retirement and Removal Commission, said yesterday the panel could not
investigate or censure Combs if he smoked marijuana while he was a judge
because it has been more than 120 days since Combs was on the bench.
 Asked yesterday whether they were aware that Combs used marijuana, three
judicial commission members -- lawyer Joe Savage of Lexington, Jefferson
District Judge Charles Scott and Carroll District Judge Stan Billingsley --
said no.
 Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert F. Stephens could not be reached for
comment last night.
 Capt. Robert  Forsythe, commander of the Pikeville state police post, who
has defended his officers' conduct during the raid at Combs' home, declined
comment last night.
 Combs said yesterday he had no idea who could have told police he might have
marijuana in his home. Combs said he had not talked about it, and his two
teenage sons wouldn't, either.
 Police have declined to say who tipped them.
 Conn said Combs agreed to let state police search his home only after they
told him they had a search warrant.
 But Forsythe said no search warrant was obtained, because Combs signed a
consent form, permitting search. "If we'd had a search warrant,. we wouldn't
have needed his consent," he said.


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