Eddy Lepp and his Medicinal Gardens and Multi-Denominational Ministry of Cannabis and Rastafari [9] won a victory in federal district court in California Tuesday when a judge suppressed the evidence agents gathered in a 2004 raid where they seized 32,524 plants.
In the 2004 raid, DEA agents, local law enforcement, the California Highway Patrol, and an elite National Guard unit spent two days destroying the crop. The DEA at the time described it as the largest cultivation bust in history. It was destined, Lepp says, for medical marijuana patients in the state.
In a Tuesday ruling, US District Court Judge Marilyn Patel threw out the fruits of that raid. According to a press release from Lepp supporters, the evidence was suppressed due to illegal service of warrants.
Lepp, who is a leading advocate of the sacramental use of marijuana, still faces decades in federal prison over a 2005 raid. Judge Patel has set a January 9 hearing at the Federal Court Building in San Francisco on whether to throw out the search warrant in that case as well. Lepp and his defenders will argue that it, too, was illegally obtained.