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Medical marijuana activist convicted of growing 24,000 pot plants
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, September 6, 2008
A federal court jury has convicted a medical marijuana activist of illegally growing more than 24,000 pot plants that were clearly visible from a highway near his home in Lake County.
Federal prosecutors said Charles "Eddy" Lepp, 56, faces a mandatory sentence of at least 10 years in prison after the jury in San Francisco found him guilty Tuesday of conspiracy and cultivation with the intent to distribute marijuana. Sentencing is scheduled Dec. 1.
Lepp is a longtime medical marijuana advocate whose battles with the government over his prosecution won him a "freedom fighter" award from High Times Magazine.
He was arrested in 2004 after federal agents said they found 32,500 marijuana plants in gardens near his home in Upper Lake. U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel ruled that the seizure was based on an invalid warrant, but allowed prosecutors to offer evidence of more than 24,000 plants that were in plain view of Highway 20.
Lepp also argued that, as a Rastafarian minister, he had a religious right to grow and use marijuana, a sacrament to his faith. He claimed his church had 2,500 members who were all sharecroppers of the plants.
But Patel barred him from using religion as a defense to the charges in a pretrial ruling Aug. 14. She said an individual charged with possession for personal use might be allowed to argue that marijuana was central to his faith. Lepp, however, could not credibly claim that his religion compelled him to distribute thousands of plants to unidentified parishioners, the judge said.
Defense lawyer Michael Hinckley said Lepp would appeal on the religious issue and perhaps on other grounds as well. He said Lepp, whose wife and father both died of cancer, believes strongly in the religious and medical use of marijuana.
Noting that the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld such federal prosecutions despite California's medical marijuana law, Hinckley said, "As long as the state and federal government are in conflict on this issue, unfortunate results like this are going to continue to occur."
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, September 6, 2008
A federal court jury has convicted a medical marijuana activist of illegally growing more than 24,000 pot plants that were clearly visible from a highway near his home in Lake County.
Federal prosecutors said Charles "Eddy" Lepp, 56, faces a mandatory sentence of at least 10 years in prison after the jury in San Francisco found him guilty Tuesday of conspiracy and cultivation with the intent to distribute marijuana. Sentencing is scheduled Dec. 1.
Lepp is a longtime medical marijuana advocate whose battles with the government over his prosecution won him a "freedom fighter" award from High Times Magazine.
He was arrested in 2004 after federal agents said they found 32,500 marijuana plants in gardens near his home in Upper Lake. U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel ruled that the seizure was based on an invalid warrant, but allowed prosecutors to offer evidence of more than 24,000 plants that were in plain view of Highway 20.
Lepp also argued that, as a Rastafarian minister, he had a religious right to grow and use marijuana, a sacrament to his faith. He claimed his church had 2,500 members who were all sharecroppers of the plants.
But Patel barred him from using religion as a defense to the charges in a pretrial ruling Aug. 14. She said an individual charged with possession for personal use might be allowed to argue that marijuana was central to his faith. Lepp, however, could not credibly claim that his religion compelled him to distribute thousands of plants to unidentified parishioners, the judge said.
Defense lawyer Michael Hinckley said Lepp would appeal on the religious issue and perhaps on other grounds as well. He said Lepp, whose wife and father both died of cancer, believes strongly in the religious and medical use of marijuana.
Noting that the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld such federal prosecutions despite California's medical marijuana law, Hinckley said, "As long as the state and federal government are in conflict on this issue, unfortunate results like this are going to continue to occur."
