Q All right. To go with that then a little bit, did he say, when you were questioning him about this, anything to indicate that it was or was not really marijuana that this associate brought to his home?
A On June the 10th when I met with him he advised me that it was marijuana.
Q Right.
A He admitted that he smoked marijuana.
Q Okay. And since that time have you talked with him about the incident Has he given you a different version?
A Yes, I have. I received a message from him and I also have been buy his residence to serve a summons on him. And he indicated to me that his associate that brought him the marijuana confronted him and said that he felt like he was being set up by Mr. Ward. Evidently when he saw the camera, the news crew or whatever, and that it was not marijuana that he had actually delivered to Mr. Ward. That it was some other substance.
Q All right. Now, did Mr. Ward explain to you how he reconciled the two different versions he had given you? That he had smoked – albeit not inhaling – he had smoked marijuana but then later he’s telling you it’s not marijuana. Did he say how he reconciled those two versions?
A No, sir. Basically all of this occurred after he was advised of the negative result of the on-site drug test.
Q Okay. And did that happen before or after you advised him that you were requesting a hearing about this?
A This occurred after.
Q All right. So the time he told you it was not clearly marijuana, that was after he knew we were going to be having a hearing here?
A Yes.
Q Now, finally to go back into this other matter. So according to Mr. Ward, the TV crew asked him to obtain or purchase marijuana?
A That’s correct. That’s exactly what Mr. Ward relayed to me.
Q And according to the TV crew, other than sort of the niceties of them not being there when it happened and then coming back, they were aware this was going to be going on?
A To my knowledge, according to what Mr. Ward has advised me, that they were aware of it, that this transaction would take place or that Mr. Ward would somehow come into the possession of marijuana, and that he would smoke marijuana being filmed doing so.
Q And, again, according to Mr. Ward, this was their idea. They wanted to get, I guess, some news footage of somebody actually smoking marijuana?
A That’s correct. Again, Mr. Ward advised me that he suggested could he possibly use a plain tobacco cigarette to simulate a marijuana cigarette and they indicated that that would not suffice.
Q All right. Thank you.
