ACCUSED TO FACE TRIAL DESPITE ILLEGAL 'STING'

The alleged marijuana grower is accused of laundering about $500,000 in U.S.
funds

The RCMP acted illegally when it set up a "reverse-sting" money-laundering
operation, but that will not spare an alleged Vancouver Island marijuana
grower from charges he laundered almost a half-million in U.S. funds.

The B.C. court of Appeal ruled this week Frederick Austin Creswell must face
a new trial after it found the RCMP's illegal acts did not necessarily
"shock the conscience of the community and thus entitle [Creswell] to a stay
of proceedings."

The appeal court ruled that Creswell must face a new trial for allegedly
laundering $468,120 US into Canadian funds at an RCMP-operated currency
exchange between April 1995 and January 1996.

IN 1998, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Mary Humphries ruled RCMP officers acted
illegally in setting up the money exchange.

The Crown opted to stay the charges when the court ruled the RCMP must
disclose legal opinions it received from the justice department about the
legality of the police actions.

This week's appeal court decision, however, found that Humphries erred.
Rather than order that the opinions be made available to the court in their
entirety, court of Appeal Justices Catherine Ryan, Carol Huddart and
Patricia Proudfoot found that less disclosure could have been sufficient.

"The trial judge ought to have examined the opinions in light of the
circumstances of the case before her, made a decision as to whether the
opinions should be released, and if required, edited the opinions to reveal
only as much as was necessary to allow proof of innocence," Ryan wrote