LAWYER'S BAGS OF CANNABIS SIGN OF A DEALER, TRIAL TOLD

A search of the house and car of Napier criminal lawyer Philip James Jensen
found cannabis packaged into bags that bore the hallmarks of a drug dealer,
Napier District Court was told yesterday.

Jensen, 44, pleaded guilty yesterday to cultivating cannabis at Te Pohue,
on the Napier-Taupo road, but not guilty to the more serious charge of
possessing cannabis for supply.

His trial before Judge David Saunders is expected to end today or early
tomorrow.

The jury was told to put aside Jensen's guilty plea on the cultivation charge.

Opening for the Crown yesterday, Denys Barry said that when police executed
a search warrant on Jensen's Vigor Brown St property in September, they
found five bags of seedless cannabis heads in snaplock plastic bags inside
a cardboard box in the boot of Jensen's car.

Mr Barry said the bags weighed between 25 and 28 grams (one ounce) each.
Police also found a supermarket shopping bag of seeded heads weighing 111
grams in the boot.

Inside Jensen's house, detectives found a pipe smelling of cannabis and
film canisters and tins smelling of cannabis or containing "bits and pieces
of cannabis".

Mr Barry said Jensen told detective Craig Davis in a videotaped interview
that the five bags of cannabis were given to him by someone he had acted
for. Jensen said he believed the pipe was his daughter's and he offered to
take police to see his cannabis patch at Te Pohue.

Jensen said the bags were for his own use and he anticipated sharing them
with friends and family.

Mr Barry said there were three key issues for the jury: Whether the
cannabis was in Jensen's possession, whether it weighed more than 28 grams
(pointing to possible possession for supply), and whether Jensen's
explanation satisfied them.

Russell Fairbrother, defending, said Jensen had cooperated with police,
making their job easier. There was no dispute about who possessed the
cannabis but the jury should ask themselves whether Jensen was a cannabis
addict or "did he have it for commercial purposes".

Detective Keith Price of Napier, a police drugs expert, said the "bits and
pieces of cannabis" Mr Barry had referred to were for the owner's use, but
the five bags, worth between $250 and $500 each, bore the hallmarks of
cannabis for supply.