S.F. pot-farm case goes up in smoke

San Francisco's effort to snuff out the budding indoor pot-growing trade took a bit of a hit, shall we say, when a father-and-son team of marijuana growers beat the rap.

It seemed like a pretty good haul for police and a good case for prosecutors: About 70 marijuana plants in various stages of development inside a 32nd Avenue home near Pacheco Street in the Sunset, two guns, scales, baggies and an illegal power-sapping hookup -- all the characteristics of the pot farms sprouting up in the avenues.

The three-room pot farm's father-and-son proprietors were charged with marijuana cultivation for sale. They could have been sentenced to as much as three years in state prison apiece if convicted.

But last week, the case went south and the two men, Thomas Chang, 62, and his son, Errol Chang, 30, were acquitted by a San Francisco jury.

Their defense? They needed the marijuana for a variety of maladies, from nightmares to neck pain to schizophrenia. Both had a cash-only doctor's recommendation to use the drug.

The father, a retired security guard, truck driver, patrol special police officer and teacher, said he and his son both needed at least four cigar-sized joints a day to make it through.

Read more: Crime Scene : S.F. pot-farm case goes up in smoke

I don't see how they can justify stealing the power.

I think thieves should spend a little time in the local lockup.

Yeah I would think they will atleast be recharged with power theft, they should be. But since the court through out the last law the legislature passed controlling plant limits, you can grow as much as you want in Cali now. Just want to stay away from the federal 100 plant limit.