'INADEQUATE' SENTENCE SEES POT GROWER JAILED

In a rare move, the province's highest court has yanked a convict's house
arrest and sent him to jail.

James Stewart McCurdy will now spend three years in a federal prison
instead of serving an 18-month conditional sentence.

Nova Scotia Court of Appeal released its unanimous decision yesterday,
saying it's important to denounce such criminal activity.

McCurdy, 41, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess marijuana
for the purpose of trafficking and was sentenced in April.

He was one of six men involved in a dope-growing operation that included
more than 500 plants.

The ringleader, well-known pot crusader Michael Patriquen, received a
six-year sentence. That also included a Newfoundland trafficking charge.

Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Felix Cacchione put McCurdy under house
arrest for the first year of his conditional sentence.

He also ordered him to perform 100 hours of community service and forfeit
his growing equipment.

Yesterday's ruling concludes Cacchione gave a number of important factors
too little weight.

For instance, McCurdy was second-in-command of the "sophisticated"
operation, and agreed to share profits equally with Patriquen.

He has a criminal record dating back to 1979, and was on probation at the
time of this offence.

"The result was a sentence that is clearly inadequate and excessively
lenient," wrote Appeal Court Justice Elizabeth Roscoe.

She says there's no question McCurdy was motivated by money.

A conditional sentence is too lax a punishment compared with similar cases,
she added. In this case, jail is the only way to express society's
condemnation and to deter others.

Officers charged McCurdy on Feb. 28, 2000.

The Rawdon, Hants Co., man gets credit for the six months he has served at
home, leaving his jail term at 30 months.

House arrest has come under fire from critics as being too lenient.

Troy Andrew Henry appears to be one of the few others to have his revoked,
however.

The Dartmouth man was found guilty of manslaughter last year for fatally
punching a Yukon tourist in Halifax. A judge sentenced him to spend two
years less a day in his Highfield Park apartment.

In March, Nova Scotia Court of Appeal ordered Henry to spend three years
and three months in prison.

Roscoe used nearly identical phrasing in that decision: "The sentence is
clearly inadequate and excessively lenient," she concluded.