In 2007, after retiring from a long career as a heart surgeon, Dr. David Allen came to California and set up a practice issuing medical marijuana recommendations to qualified patients under state law. The 50-acre property he left behind in Mississippi, which was occupied by his sister and brother-in-law, became the target of a narcotics task force raid in early 2009. During that raid, law enforcement agents claimed that they found hashish, marijuana and cultivation equipment, all valued at approximately $1000. That was enough for authorities to arrest Dr. Allen’s relatives, start forfeiture proceedings on the 50-acre property, and issue a warrant for the doctor himself, who was in California at the time of the raid. Dr. Allen surrendered himself to authorities after learning of the bust and was immediately taken into custody. He endured a harrowing transport cross-country to Mississippi, only to bail out and return to California while awaiting the resolution of his case. Meanwhile, during a trip back to Mississippi in December 2009, Dr. Allen was arrested on new accusations that he was tampering with witnesses in his case and attempting to bribe them. From a Mississippi jail, where he was thereafter held without bail, the doctor denied those allegations and claimed he was merely trying to help his sister. In March 2010, a grand jury indicted Dr. Allen on three counts related to the February 2009 raid, including the possession, cultivation and transfer of marijuana. If ultimately convicted, he faces decades in prison and fines upwards of $1 million.

Dr. David B. Allen #2009120099
SCRCF
M Zone
1420 Industrial Park Rd.
Wiggins, MS 39577


Link to Dr. Allen discussing his case on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dubhNbpg750

Medical marijuana grower Bryan Epis has been caught in a legal nightmare ever since 1997, when law enforcement agents seized 458 marijuana plants and various computer documents from his home in Chico, CA.  That raid occurred mere months after California voters legalized medical marijuana statewide, and Epis’s case quickly inspired outrage in the activist community.  Not only was he charged with criminal cultivation, prosecutors used documents taken from the search to charge him with conspiracy to cultivate over a thousand plants.  Epis was unable to mount a medical defense to his charges because he was prosecuted on the federal level, where state medical marijuana laws don’t apply.  When the case went to trial in 2002, prosecutors relied heavily on out-of-context excerpts from the seized computer documents, which had been printed from different computer programs in a manner that made them appear as a series of separate documents involving various locations.  The jury ended up finding Epis guilty and he was given the mandatory minimum sentence: ten years in federal prison.  Epis was incarcerated for over two years before getting released on bail pending appeal in August 2004, a move that gave him five and a half years of freedom to spend with his young daughter.  However, in spite of claims of prosecutorial misconduct and missing evidence, Epis lost round after round of his appeal.  By February 22nd, 2010, he had exhausted his legal options and was taken back into custody to serve the remainder of his ten-year sentence.

BRYAN EPIS  X-3311197  6E302A
Sacramento County Main Jail
651 "I" Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
 

Sign and help circulate a petition to pardon Bryan Epis, visit www.bestlodging.com/politics

After an August 2004 raid on Charles "Eddy" Lepp's northern California property, the Drug Enforcement Administration reported the seizure of 32,524 marijuana plants. According to Lepp, these plants were being grown by members of his Rasta ministry for qualified medical patients under California’s Compassionate Use Act. To the federal government, which doesn’t recognize state medical marijuana law, the grow was considered entirely illegal and Lepp was prosecuted accordingly. Over the next four years, he won a number of victories against the U.S. government, overcoming charges from a botched sales sting against him and getting the search warrant for his raid thrown out of court. The case went downhill, however, when the judge ruled that the plants could remain in evidence because they were in plain sight from a public highway. The same judge subsequently denied Lepp’s religious use claim, ruling that rights of religious expression were overriden by the government’s interest in preventing the diversion of such a large quantity of marijuana. Lepp was still reeling from that denial, which he vehemently disputes, when his case finally went to trial in late August 2008. Lepp himself took the stand in order to tell the jury that he was not guilty because he had not personally grown any of the marijuana; as he put it, he had simply opened up his land for use by members of his Rasta church. However, Lepp was unable to convince the jury of this claim. His emotional testimony about caregiving for his recently-deceased wife also failed to sway the jurors towards acquittal, and they quickly returned guilty verdicts on all charges. During Lepp’s sentencing in May 2009, the judge reluctantly sentenced him to ten years in federal prison, saying the penalty was excessive but that she was constrained by mandatory minimum sentencing laws.  Read more about Eddy's case here.

CHARLES EDWARD LEPP #90157-011
FCI VICTORVILLE, MEDIUM I, SATELLITE CAMP
P.O. BOX 5100
ADELANTO, CA 92301

Completely disabled from a 1997 car accident, Joe Kidwell used marijuana to treat constant pain from his severe back injuries. While living in California, Kidwell got the doctor's recommendation required under state medical marijuana laws and began cultivating a small garden. After a bust and a trial in Los Angeles Superior Court, a jury found Kidwell guilty of cultivating 14 marijuana plants. The verdict came in spite of the presentation of multiple written doctor's recommendations and the fact that two doctors testified on Kidwell's behalf. He was sentenced to a term of probation that allowed him to smoke marijuana in his house but specifically forbade him from engaging in any marijuana advocacy. Done wrong in a state where medical marijuana was supposed to be legal, Kidwell looked for greener pastures elsewhere. He ended up in Kentucky, where his cultivation activities resulted in a federal indictment against him in August 2002. In his ensuing trial, Kidwell claims he was not permitted to represent himself, and that 17 of his 18 witness were denied an opportunity to testify. Kidwell remains imprisoned, with release scheduled in 2011.

Joe Kidwell 08559-033

FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION
P.O. BOX 2000
FORT DIX, NJ 08640

a.k.a. "D.C. Greenhouse" of the Merced Patients Group

No one has motivated activist sensibilities of central California like Dustin Costa. A former Marine and union leader, Costa brought a wealth of organizing skills and experience to the advocacy work he did on behalf of the medical marijuana movement. From his base near Merced, California, he led a group of nearly 300 volunteers on actions like citizen lobbying, protesting at important court hearings, and engineering community improvement efforts like graffiti removal. Costa was initially prosecuted on the state level for his cultivation of a collective garden of nearly 900 plants. After nearly 20 court appearances, however, local authorities handed the case over to the U.S. Attorney and the prosecution began all over again on the federal level. Costa went to jury trial in November 2006 and was found guilty on charges of the manufacture of marijuana, possession with the intent to distribute, and possession of a firearm. He has been incarcerated since his federal indictment, and has a release date set for 2018.

Dustin Robert Costa 62406-097
FEDERAL PRISON CAMP
PO BOX 5000
FLORENCE, CO 81226-5000

The case of Vernon Rylee shows the cold reality that no one is too sick to be imprisoned by the federal government. A northern California medical marijuana patient and caregiver, Rylee was initially arrested in August 2003 on charges of cultivating over a thousand marijuana plants. After replanting his garden the following year, the bust repeated itself, but this time with federal agents confiscating the plants. In October 2005, the Trinity County District Attorney dismissed the state charges against Rylee and promptly handed the case over to the U.S. Attorney for prosecution. Pending trial in his federal case, Rylee was held at the Sacramento County Jail, where the wheelchair-bound inmate claims he was continually deprived of prescription medications for diabetes, blood pressure and pain from a crippling back injury. His health deteriorated so severely that he ended up being transferred to a medical facility in Texas for intensive care in early 2006, around which time he accepted a plea deal offered by the prosecution. Rylee is scheduled to be incarcerated until 2010. According to his daughter, he is unable to read or write very well, but he appreciates receiving mail and supporters are encouraged to send messages nonetheless.

Vernon Lavell Rylee 16059-097
FEDERAL PRISON CAMP

PO BOX 1000
BUTNER, NC 27509

Larry Kristich was the president of the “Compassionate Caregivers” chain of medical marijuana dispensaries that operated an extensive number of locations across California. During its peak, the chain had outlets in West Hollywood, San Diego, Ukiah, Bakersfield, Oakland, San Francisco, and Alameda County. Federal investigators stated that “Compassionate Caregivers” employed two hundred people, grossed a total of $95 million and distributed over 15,000 pounds of marijuana during the course of its three years of operation. The West Hollywood location, called the “Yellow House,” was raided by the Los Angeles Police Department in 2005, leading to the seizure of the chain’s bank account and the closure of its facilities. Federal charges for Kristich and a handful of associates followed two years later. Kristich was in Costa Rica when he was indicted in July 2007, but he returned shortly afterward to surrender to federal authorities. In early 2008, he accepted a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to a count of maintaining a drug-involved premises and a count of promotional money laundering. In early February 2009, Kristich was sentenced to 5 years in prison and given a $500,000 fine.

LARRY ROGER KRISTICH #33309-112
FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION
P.O. BOX 3000
ANTHONY, TX  88021