[420 Girl]

MOUNT OLIVE -- The owner of a tractor-trailer that was stopped on Route 80 last year in Mount Olive containing $516,000 in marijuana knew the drug was on board and was possessing the drugs for distribution, a prosecutor told a jury today.

However, a defense attorney claimed truck owner Michael Daley of Oakland, Calif., had no idea that three large duffel bags stowed in the sleeper berth of the rig were stuffed with 147 pounds of cellophane-wrapped cubes of pot.

Rather, the marijuana belonged to Daley’s co-driver, a Georgia woman who was transporting the pot without Daley’s consent or knowledge, the attorney said.

A jury of nine women and five men heard those opening arguments as Daley's trial got underway in Superior Court in Morristown before Judge Thomas Manahan.

Morris County Assistant Prosecutor Kelley Lavery told the jury Daley owned the tractor-trailer and was hauling two loads on March 10, 2008, when the rig was pulled over by a New Jersey State Police trooper for a routine inspection. One load was legitimate: a shipment of pharmaceutical supplies en route from North Ridge, Calif. to Schering-Plough in Kenilworth. The other, Lavery said, was illegitimate, containing 147.2 pounds of marijuana with a street value of $515,900.

Lavery said the vehicle and trip is known as a “mule” for transporting drugs, he said.

“Even if Cheech and Chong were working as hard as they could for a year, they probably couldn’t smoke all this pot,” Lavery told the jury.

Defense attorney Alex Pagano countered by calling the state’s description of the case an "oversimplification."

"Mr. Daley is innocent of these charges. He did not jointly, constructively, in any way possess the marijuana in that truck," said Pagano.

Rather, Pagano said, the marijuana was placed on board by the other driver, Adelei Mosley-Bakari of Atlanta, Ga., who “was using Mr. Daley."

"What she did, she did for herself,” he said.

Mosley-Bakari earlier this year pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute the drug and was sentenced to five years in prison.

The trial is to continue this afternoon with New Jersey State Trooper Brian Dolinsky testifying for the state. He stopped the truck while on patrol under the state police Commercial Carrier and Safety Unit.

Dolinsky’s suspicions were aroused by various factors, including inconsistent trip log books and air fresheners hung all over the cab, Lavery said. Daley also was behind a curtain in the sleeper section of the cab during the stop, and closed the curtain behind him when he emerged, Lavery said.

Pagano said Daley readily consented to a search of the truck, because “he had nothing to hide. He did not know what was in the duffel bags. This is a situation that could happen to almost anyone.”


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