LSD Trafficking Suspect Has Intriguing Backers

The Bay Area man accused of running a huge LSD lab at a decommissioned nuclear weapons silo in Kansas is a nonsmoking, marathon-running vegetarian, a Harvard graduate and deputy director of a University of California program that tracked illegal drugs. And he won support from San Francisco's district attorney. After William Leonard Pickard Jr.'s arrest in what the Drug Enforcement Administration calls one of the nation's biggest LSD cases, Pickard produced letters backing his release on bail from District Attorney Terence Hallinan on official letterhead and from a British lord and lady known for trepanation -- having holes drilled in their skulls to expand consciousness.

Pickard, 55, of Mill Valley and his alleged accomplice, Clyde Apperson, 45, a Mountain View computer consultant, are charged with conspiracy to distribute LSD. A DEA affidavit says the two had enough raw material to produce 10 million or more doses monthly.

Pickard evaded hounds, helicopters with infrared searchlights and more than 50 law enforcement officials for 18 hours after he sprinted into the thick Kansas woods when police stopped his rented van Nov. 7, said Pottawatomie County Sheriff Anthony Metcalf.

Officers went door to door to check some 250 homes, said Metcalf, but a farmer found Pickard resting in a truck and turned him in.

D.A. BACKS PICKARD

Hallinan's letter was one of several recommending Pickard's release on bail.

The entire letter said:

"When I was in private practice I represented Leonard Pickard on some legal matters. I always found him to be an honorable person who kept his word."

In one of those matters, Pickard admitted that in 1985 he applied for a passport under a false name. In another, he admitted that in 1988 he was involved with an LSD lab in Mountain View.

Hallinan's use of office stationery for a private matter apparently conflicts with ethics rules recommended by the California District Attorney's Association, which say: "Using official stationery for personal objectives is improper."

Rod Leonard, a deputy district attorney in Los Angeles who specializes in professional responsibility, declined to comment on any specific case but said his office policy states: "Letterhead should not be used for matters not related to office business." Governmental stationery implies an official message, he said.

Hallinan said he saw no conflict between his role as San Francisco's top prosecutor and using office stationery to vouch for Pickard. His office has no rule on the use of letterhead, he said.

"There's no way you could imply that letter was the official position of the D.A.'s office. It was like a personal reference by me," Hallinan said. "I am confident that if he (Pickard) is released on bail he will show up. He was a conscientious guy and made his court appearances on time."

HOLES IN THEIR HEADS

Lord James and Lady Amanda Neidpath of Beckley Park, Oxford, also vowed Pickard was trustworthy. They are renowned for having undergone trepanation, a centuries-old practice of drilling holes in the head that gained a small following in the 1960s. Proponents say it decreases depression and boosts creativity; the medical establishment calls it nonsense.

Lord Neidpath, the second son of the Earl of Wemyss, was an Oxford professor who taught international relations to Bill Clinton. Lord Neidpath told the Washington Post in 1998 that the hole in his head "seemed to be very beneficial."

Lady Neidpath ran for Parliament in the 1970s on a platform of "Trepanation for the National Health." She told London's Express that the bloody procedure - - which she administered herself and recorded on film -- left her feeling permanently "drunk on sherry."

The Neidpaths' letter to the court said Pickard had helped them plan conferences on "Drugs and Society" at Queen Elizabeth's Windsor Castle.

"We find it difficult to believe . . . he can be involved in anything criminal," it said. "He has always been kindly, reliable and extremely helpful.

He is also well known in the academic community."