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 23rd, 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  6E316A
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

Veteran activist Michael “Mickey” Martin has a broad base of experience in the medical marijuana industry, including work as the director of T-Comp Consulting and the associate editor of West Coast Cannabis magazine. However, Mickey is most widely known for his work in manufacturing food-based medicines through a company called Tainted Inc., later renamed Compassion Medicinal Edibles. This company, which produced cannabis-infused food products for medical marijuana patients, operated for many years and pioneered safety standards for the entire industry. Unfortunately, a law enforcement raid shut the company down in September 2007, leaving Mickey and three other Tainted Inc. employees facing federal charges. Since California’s medical marijuana laws don’t provide a defense in federal court, Mickey ended up pleading guilty to a single count of “conspiracy to manufacture a mixture or substance containing marijuana.” In September 2008, in a courtroom packed with medical marijuana activists and community leaders, a federal judge gave Mickey a 24-month sentence. He served the first half of this term on home detention but was required to spend the remainder in a halfway house. Following a large public protest on January 4th, 2010, Mickey checked into a community corrections facility in San Francisco. Although he avoided hard prison time, he and his family have endured significant hardships as a result of his sentence. While his wife and two young sons struggle to maintain a household during his absence, Mickey struggles to adapt to the requirements of the halfway house and to tolerate the constriction of his personal liberties. He has chronicled these struggles at http://www.freetainted.com

Michael Martin
111 Taylor St.
San Francisco, CA 94102

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.  Lepp plans to appeal his convictions. Read more about Eddy's case here.

CHARLES EDWARD LEPP  #90157-011
FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION
3600 GUARD ROAD
LOMPOC, CA  93436

David Davidson and his partner Cynthia Blake were raided by Tehama County Sheriffs in July 2003, when officers seized the medical marijuana gardens at their homes in Oakland and Red Bluff, CA. The pair was arrested and charged with cultivation and possession for sale, in spite of claims that they were legitimate caregivers under California law. The plant count was soon the subject of contentious dispute -- the number varied between 36 and 1803, depending on which source was asked. This matter was going to be sorted out in court in Tehama County, but the plan to prosecute the pair was diverted from local hands and onto the desks of federal authorities in January 2004. During a hearing in a Tehama County courtroom, Davidson and Blake were told by the Deputy District Attorney that charges against them would be dropped...but the prospect of vindication quickly turned into a nightmare as the two defendants were swept away from their attorneys and into federal custody. By the time they bailed out of jail, the harsh realities of federal prosecution had begun to settle in. Davidson subsequently fled, and Blake stayed to answer to the charges that threatened to land her in prison for decades. After being offered leniency in exchange for information against her partner, Blake agreed to a plea deal that only got her time behind bars whittled down a measly 18 months. Shortly thereafter, Davidson was captured in New Mexico and brought to Sacramento County Jail, where he is being held as he awaits the resolution of his case.

David Davidson X-4001338
Sacramento County Main Jail
651 I Street 4-W-107
Sacramento CA 95814

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 Correctional Institution
1900 Simler Avenue
Big Spring TX 79720

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

John Sullivan was indicted in July 2006, when the Drug Enforcement Administration executed massive simultaneous raids on San Diego’s medical marijuana dispensaries. The action shut down most of the dispensaries in the region, including Sullivan’s “Purple Bud Room” and “Tender Holistics Care.” During the investigation of these facilities, which began in September 2005, an undercover officer claimed that he was able to purchase marijuana for his dog. Sullivan’s indictment contained counts for cultivation, as well as for conspiracy to cultivate and conspiracy to distribute marijuana. While also facing state charges stemming from the raids, Sullivan pled guilty in federal court to growing three hundred marijuana plants. In August 2007, he was sentenced to five years in federal prison and five years of probation. Sullivan served some of his time in Oregon, before being transferred to a federal prison in Florida.

JOHN SULLIVAN 95343-198

Federal Correctional Institution

P.O. BOX 7007

Marianna  FL  32447

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
TAFT CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION

P.O. BOX 7001

TAFT, CA 93268