Colville-area medical marijuana defendant Arthur "Ocean Israel" Shepherd asked Superior Court Judge Rebecca Baker Friday to put his marijuana-manufacturing sentence on hold until his appeal is resolved.

Shepherd pleaded guilty in March, but reserved the right to argue on appeal that Initiative 692 should have protected him from prosecution. Baker ruled Shepherd is a valid "caregiver" for a Colville man who has a doctor's recommendation to use marijuana, but Shepherd couldn't prove he wasn't growing more marijuana than the patient could have under Initiative 692.

Shepherd, 50, admits using marijuana himself even though he has no medical problem. He said he considers the drug a sacred herb.

While awaiting trial, Shepherd twice refused to swear off pot as a condition of his release from jail. He also twice conducted hunger strikes inside the county jail - once while wearing only his bed sheet and pillow case.

In March, Baker sentenced Shepherd to 30 days he had already served in jail.

Baker also ordered Shepherd not to have marijuana while on probation and to submit to a drug evaluation and any prescribed treatment. Those conditions and court costs are what Shepherd and his lawyer, Frank Cikutovich, asked the judge to put on hold Friday. She agreed to wait on the court fees, but refused to change the other conditions. Baker said she doesn't want the state to have to reimburse the fees if Shepherd wins his appeal.

Cikutovich argued unsuccessfully that Shepherd may have to pay thousands of dollars for drug treatment that an appeals court may determine was unnecessary.

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