After a resounding victory in the court of public opinion, “Because I Got High” rapper Afroman scored another one with an Ohio jury this week. They decided he didn’t defame, distress, or invade the privacy of the law enforcement officers who invaded his home with a search warrant.

The case stemmed from a 2022 incident in which officers of the Adams County, Ohio, sheriff’s department executed a search warrant at the home of Afroman, whose real name is Joseph Foreman, looking for drugs. They never found any, but they did damage some of Afroman’s property, walk through the house with visible weapons around his wife and children, and rifle through his family’s personal belongings. The deputies found no drugs but took thousands of dollars in cash. No charges were ever filed against anyone at the home, and most of the money was returned. The sheriff’s office shorted Afroman $400, which they later said was a simple “miscounting” error.

Afroman was not home at the time. His wife used her phone to record the deputies in her house, and their home security system also recorded the incident. Afroman subsequently used this footage to create music videos for several songs he composed about the event. The videos, published the same year as the event, went viral.

“The Adams County Sheriff kicked down my door,” goes Afroman’s song “Lemon Pound Cake.” It continues, “Then I heard the glass break. They found no kidnapping victims. Just some lemon pound cake. Mama’s lemon pound cake. It tastes so nice. It made the sheriff wanna put down his gun. And cut him a slice.”

The civil suit filed in March of 2023, alleging that Afroman used the likenesses of two sergeants, a detective and four Adams County deputies without their permission and profited off the images. The deputies, collectively, sought nearly $4 million in damages.

Another line in the song calls the deputy ogling the cake (and a pornographic magazine he found) a real “family guy,” which could be interpreted as a comment on the deputy’s resemblance to the character of Peter Griffin from the animated series of the same name.

Other songs on the album, also called Lemon Pound Cake, were directed at individual officers, derisively referring to their sexual proclivities, among other things. Robert Klingler, the deputies’ attorney, told the jury, “A search warrant execution that you think was unfair … doesn’t justify telling intentional lies designed to hurt people.”

But Afroman testified that said none of this would have happened if they hadn’t raided his house: “This whole thing is their fault, and they’re suing me for their mistake.

“I got the right to kick a can in my backyard, use my freedom of speech, turn my bad times into a good time,” the rapper said on the stand. “Yes, I do, and I think I’m a sport for doing so, because I don’t go to their house, kick down their doors, flip them off on their surveillance cameras, then try to play the victim and sue them.”

The jury deliberated for less than a day before returning a verdict, read by Judge Jonathan Hein. “In all circumstances, the jury finds in favor of the defendant. No plaintiff verdict prevailed. So, the matter will be concluded with defense verdicts,” he said.

In a video he posted to his Instagram account, Afroman, decked out in a white fur and the American flag print suit he wore during the trial, says, “We did it, America! Yeah, we did it! Freedom of speech! Right on! Right on!” And speaking with Cincinnati’s WCPO 9 News he said, “I didn’t win, America won. America still has freedom of speech. It’s still for the people, by the people.”