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Court hearing for star pitcher Lincecum becomes spectacle

By Laura McVicker
Published: January 20, 2010, 12:00am
3 Photos
Photos by Troy Wayrynen/The Columbian
Tim Lincecum, star pitcher for the San Francisco Giants and a two-time Cy Young award winner, appeared in Clark County District Court Tuesday morning with the Giants' managing partner Bill Neukom, left. Judge Darvin Zimmerman reduced Lincecum's marijuana charge to a civil infraction that cost $513.
Photos by Troy Wayrynen/The Columbian Tim Lincecum, star pitcher for the San Francisco Giants and a two-time Cy Young award winner, appeared in Clark County District Court Tuesday morning with the Giants' managing partner Bill Neukom, left. Judge Darvin Zimmerman reduced Lincecum's marijuana charge to a civil infraction that cost $513. Photo Gallery

Photographers and reporters clustered Tuesday morning outside the normally quiet courtroom of Clark County District Court Judge Darvin Zimmerman.

Media representatives scanned the hallway as they waited for one particular defendant to show up.

“Is that him?” one cameramen was overheard asking about a dark-haired tall man standing near the elevator.

It wasn’t, but the cameraman didn’t have to wait long. After several minutes, Tim Lincecum, star pitcher of the San Francisco Giants and a two-time Cy Young Award winner, made his way through the barrage of media representatives and entered the courtroom.

Dressed in a dark gray suit and open-collared green shirt, a serious-looking Lincecum appeared nothing like his baseball nickname, “The Freak.” Still, he stood out in his sleek suit among the usual defendants who appear on misdemeanor crimes and small-claims matters in District Court.

Lincecum, 25, was appearing to resolve a marijuana charge relating to a traffic stop on Interstate 5 on Oct. 30 in which it is alleged that 3.3 grams of marijuana and paraphernalia were found in his 2006 Mercedes-Benz. Lincecum was reportedly on his way to the Seattle area when he was stopped at mid-morning on Interstate 5 in Hazel Dell.

Tuesday morning, Lincecum briefly shook hands with his attorney, Gary Metro of Walla Walla, and took a seat in one of the two rows in the back. Seated near him were his father and Giants’ managing partner Bill Neukom. Also packed in the small courtroom were media representatives, bystanders and a few attorneys who came “just to observe,” they told the judge.

“We’re ready on Mr. Lincecum,” Deputy Prosecutor Mark Beam told the judge.

As part of an agreement, Beam said, charges of possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia were reduced to a civil infraction of selling drug paraphernalia.

The infraction ordered Lincecum to pay $513. Lincecum has already paid a $150 speeding ticket.

Zimmerman said the charge reduction had nothing to do with the fact he is a famous baseball player but, rather, because of his lack of criminal history and “the budgetary constraints the county faces.”

“I understand you are a first-time offender,” Zimmerman said. “Knowing hindsight is 20-20, I’m sure you would have rethought this decision.”

The judge then asked him if there was anything he wanted to say. A pale Lincecum shrugged before saying quietly, “I’ll try not to let this happen again, move forward and continue with my life.”

Lincecum, judged as one of the best pitchers in the major leagues, starred for the University of Washington Huskies baseball team and is a native of Bellevue. He received the Cy Young Award in 2008 and 2009 as the National League’s top pitcher.

A spokesman for Major League Baseball said Lincecum will not face any penalty with the league because it’s his first offense.

The $513 Lincecum was ordered to pay is small change in light of current salary arbitration under way with the Giants. Lincecum is seeking $13 million for 2010, which would be the richest contract ever awarded in league arbitration, the Associated Press reported Tuesday. The Giants offered him $8 million.

After the 10-minute hearing in District Court, Lincecum, escorted by his attorney, immediately left the courtroom without making a statement to the media.

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