S.F. DA DROPS CHARGES AGAINST MEDICAL MARIJUANA BACKER

SAN FRANCISCO -- The district attorney's office has dropped drug and
pornography charges against a nationally known medical marijuana advocate,
who angrily accused police of deliberately targeting his residence for a
raid and slandering him.

Richard Evans, 35, was arrested following a Friday night police visit to
his residence that police said was initiated by a silent alarm call.

But Evans said in an interview that he believes police intentionally
triggered the alarm as an excuse to get inside his residence, where they
knew he was growing marijuana for medical use.

Police completely trashed his apartment, he said, and left one of his
four-inch knives lodged in a door in what he feels was a thinly veiled threat.

"San Francisco police are rogue agents. It's out of control," said Evans.
"I think they were triggering the alarm so they could bust in the back door."

Evans also said that police had seized from his apartment two professional
art books by renowned San Francisco photographer Jock Sturges, which
contained nude images. He vehemently denied possessing any prurient pictures.

"The cops slandered me by saying any photograph in my house was
pornographic. I say, if they have something pornographic, let's look at
it," he said.

Evans also said he had a doctor's recommendation for using pot and that he
was suspicious of how police came to raid his home. He said he was growing
marijuana strictly for medical use.

Evans said he learned Tuesday that the district attorney's office had
dropped charges of growing marijuana, possession of marijuana for sale and
possession of child pornography.

Lt. Kitt Crenshaw, the officer in charge of the raid, confirmed that the
charges against Evans had been dropped.

Prosecutors said they wanted to investigate the case further before
deciding whether to refile charges, Crenshaw said.

Evans said he runs the San Francisco Patients and Caregivers Health Center
and was previously director of Americans for Compassionate Use.

Evans had recently applied for a city permit to operate a medical marijuana
club, Crenshaw said.

Checked-by: Richard Lake