COPS TRESPASSED, BUT ACCUSED GUILTY

The B.C. Court of Appeal has upheld a marijuana grow-op conviction
after criticizing Vancouver police for trespassing on the property of
a neighbour of the accused.

In January 2003, Jay Hok was found guilty of unlawfully producing
marijuana and possessing marijuana for the purpose of trafficking,
after police busted his grow-op at (address deleted).

Over the course of a year, without a search warrant, cops stood on a
property to the west of the target residence and conducted
surveillance. Officers smelled pot in the wind coming from the grow-op
house.

The police were also close enough to monitor the higher-than-normal
readings on that house's hydro meter.

Seizing a house key from one of the occupants, police executed a
search warrant and discovered more than three kilograms of pot.

Hok appealed his conviction on the grounds that the trial judge had
erred in failing to find police had violated his Charter rights.

Dismissing the appeal, Justice Mary Southin noted that while police
were trespassing on the neighbour's property, she couldn't say the
officers were guilty of an offence.

No authority binding on the court either requires or permits the court
to exclude evidence illegally obtained unless it was obtained in
breach of the accused's Charter rights, said the judge.

"This evidence was not so obtained, as the trespass was not against
the accused," said Southin.