[420 Girl]

A jury failed Thursday to decide whether a Castle Rock man is guilty of falsifying his medical marijuana certificate.

Deputy Prosecutor David Phelan said the trial in Cowlitz County Superior Court of Matthew Chapman, who faces charges of manufacturing marijuana and tampering with medical marijuana documentation, resulted in a hung jury.

Phelan said a new trial will be scheduled next week.

Sheriff's deputies said they found 146 marijuana plants growing in Chapman's shop after they served a search warrant on his property in December 2007. Authorities say Chapman altered his medical marijuana certificate's expiration date from 2007 to 2008 and presented the document to sheriff's deputies when he was confronted.

Judge Jim Warme ruled Tuesday that Chapman, 44, cannot claim he used the pot for medical purposes because his state medical marijuana certificate had expired when he was caught with the drugs. Without the option of a medical marijuana defense, Chapman stipulated to the manufacturing charge, which means the fact that he was growing marijuana wasn’t in dispute during this week’s trial and probably won’t be disputed during his second trial.

Chapman testified Tuesday that he was authorized to use marijuana to control pain from a car accident that left him with a broken neck. He said he never altered the medical marijuana certification.

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