U.S. Dismisses Charges That Farmer Killed Rare Rats : Environment: Conservatives seeking to alter the Endangered Species Act praise the move. The case will be pursued only against the man’s family corporation.

The federal government has dropped all criminal charges against a Kern County bamboo farmer accused of killing five kangaroo rats last February--a surprise move applauded by private property groups seeking to defang the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

Taung Ming-Lin, the 52-year-old Taiwanese immigrant who became a cause celebre with conservatives nationwide, no longer faces the threat of jail time or a personal fine.

Instead, federal prosecutors will pursue a case only against his family corporation, Wang Lin Farms, which pleaded not guilty Tuesday to three counts of violating the Endangered Species Act.

“This is a big victory for Mr. Lin and a big victory for farmers and private property rights groups nationwide,” said Loron Hodge of the Kern County Farm Bureau and the Coalition to Protect and Preserve Private Property Rights.

Hodge credited a series of rallies and demonstrations in the Central Valley and support from national conservative leaders with forcing the government to re-evaluate its case.

But federal prosecutors downplayed the effect of public pressure.

“This removes some of the more emotional elements that frankly were getting in the way of the case,” Assistant U.S. Atty. Karen Kalmanir said.

Lin, who owns a bookbinding business in South El Monte, bought 723 acres of desert scrub outside Bakersfield in 1991 and began the expensive process of trying to convert it to marginal farmland for bamboo and Chinese vegetables.

Lin maintained that he discovered that the land was teeming with several endangered species only after government agents seized his tractor and charged him with three counts of knowingly destroying critical habitat for the Tipton kangaroo rat, the San Joaquin kit fox and the blunt-nosed leopard lizard.

He faced a maximum three years in jail and $300,000 in fines if found guilty. His prosecution galvanized conservative opposition to the Endangered Species Act, which Republicans in Congress have targeted for overhaul this year.

The government’s decision to drop the charges against Lin comes as something of a surprise because authorities were pressing the Taiwanese immigrant on all fronts.

According to his attorney, state and federal agencies reportedly were investigating Lin’s tax and immigration records and threatening him and his family with deportation after a surprise raid on their bookbinding business in November.

“This is a total about-face,” said Anthony Capozzi, Lin’s attorney. “It shows that the government really didn’t have a case against him in spite of its endeavors to attack his credibility.”

Capozzi said he suspects another motive: The government is pursuing a case against the corporation alone because it does not enjoy the same rights to a jury trial as individuals, an interpretation that he disputes.

The trial issue will be resolved at a March 14 hearing.

If found guilty on all three counts, the corporation faces a maximum fine of $300,000.