NO STINKY BODY, BUT A WHOLE LOTTA POT IN HOME

Not having a smelly dead body in the basement of his north-side home
helped a city man get marijuana-growing charges against him dismissed
yesterday.

[Name redacted] , 30, was accused of producing a controlled
substance, possession for the purpose of trafficking and theft of
utilities, after police hauled 342 pot plants out of an upscale home
at [address redacted]. on Dec. 3, 2005.

However, Court of Queen's Bench Justice Denny Thomas ruled the bust
was unlawful because the police had no search warrant and should not
have been in the house.

"They had no right to enter it at all," said Thomas.

"In my view, the conduct of the police was not justifiable based on
the privacy issues of the homeowner who was in the sanctity of his
home," the judge added.

Court heard police received an anonymous 911 call from a man with an
Oriental accent calling from a pay phone at Kingsway Mall saying
there was a "bad smell" at the home and he thought "there was a body
in the basement."

Police went to the home, Huynh let them in, and there was a
conversation about the supposed body.

[Name redacted] then became "nervous and agitated" and blocked the
basement entrance, telling officers they needed a search warrant.

Thomas noted police testified there was "no smell out of the
ordinary" at the home and said "there were certainly no screams from
the basement or any other noises."

Once there was no smell noted, "that was the end of it," said Thomas,
and police should have left.

The judge said he accepted that police felt a need to investigate the
information provided in the 911 call.

"However, there was absolutely no confirmation of that."

At the time, members of the police Green Team said they had
discovered a thriving marijuana grow operation in the basement being
fuelled by stolen electricity and estimated the street value of the
pot plants at $340,000.