In July 2014 the St. Clair County Drug Task Force raided medical marijuana patient Ginnifer Hency's home and "took everything," including a car, TV sets, a ladder, her children's cellphones and iPads, and even her vibrator. The charges were dropped against Hency (who uses weed to relieve pain from multiple sclerosis) because she was complying with Michigan's medical marijuana laws, but county prosecutors decided to keep her family's property because they claimed civil forfeiture laws allowed them to. Hency said a prosecutor told her, "I can still beat you in civil court. I can still take your stuff."
But a recent Michigan Supreme Court ruling on medical marijuana means Hency's case is "no longer viable," said St. Clair County Prosecutor Michael Wendling, and they will return Hency's property.
From Detroit Free Press:
The Supreme Court ruling last week clarified when caregivers and users can use their medical marijuana certification as a defense or immunity if charged with a marijuana-related crime. It was the court's ninth medical marijuana ruling since voters approved the Michigan Medical Marijuana Marihuana Act in 2008.
"We would have to have specific evidence on those items in order to overcome that burden now that we did not have to show before," Wendling said.
Hency's lawyer, Michael Komorn, told the Free Press the decision "does not eliminate the horror of what they've had to deal with the last year."
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