PORTLAND (AP) – Maine’s highest court Thursday overturned a judge’s decision that a warrant was obtained without basis to search a Piscataquis County home for evidence of marijuana cultivation.

Prosecutors appealed last fall’s District Court ruling that granted Kenneth Coffin’s motion to suppress evidence obtained as a result of the search warrant.

While the case was under appeal, the marijuana cultivation charge against Coffin was put on hold. Thursday’s decision allows prosecutors to continue their case.

A Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Department officer last year received a tip that marijuana was being grown in woods near Coffin’s residence in Medford, according to court documents.

In an affidavit requesting a search warrant, Officer Guy Dow said he found eight 2-foot-tall marijuana plants about 50 feet behind Coffin’s residence, and that a beaten path led in the direction of the house.

Dow then got a warrant and charged Coffin with marijuana cultivation based on evidence found in his home.

Coffin pleaded innocent and filed a motion to suppress any evidence that was found as a result of the search warrant. He argued, and a judge agreed, that Dow’s affidavit did not support the conclusion that a search would uncover evidence of illegal activity.

The supreme court ruled that the lower court erred in granting Coffin’s motion given that the plants were discovered near Coffin’s residence and there was a beaten path from the plants to his residence.

“This indicated a fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime would be found on the Coffin premises, and that is all that is required for a search warrant,” the decision reads.

AP-ES-07-03-03 1352EDT