MARIJUANA GROWER BURNED ON APPEAL

A 47-year-old Grenville County man probably wishes he hadn't
successfully appealed a nine-month sentence he received three years
ago for a large marijuana grow operation.

Friday, Craig Easterbrook was sentenced to 12 months in jail for the
same offence as a result of a jury finding earlier this spring that
declared him guilty of producing marijuana and possession of the drug
for the purpose of trafficking.

Easterbrook was originally charged August 16, 2000, after police
raided his isolated rural farm property in Edwardsburgh Township.

Officers found 1,200 marijuana plants growing in the barn and another
900 growing elsewhere outside.

There was also 740 pounds of dried marijuana used to make hash
oil.

The street value of the drugs was estimated between several hundred
thousand dollars to over $1 million.

In 2003, Easterbrook pleaded guilty in the Ontario Court of Justice to
production of marijuana, possessing the proceeds of crime and
possession of a prohibited weapon.

The presiding judge reluctantly accepted a joint submission for the
nine-month sentence, describing it at the low end of the acceptable
range.

Easterbrook subsequently appealed, claiming his plea had been entered
under duress. After he served five of the nine months, the Court of
Appeal agreed and ordered a new trial.

During the trial last March in Brockville, James Cauley, son of the
accused's former common-law partner, testified he was leasing the
property from Easterbrook in 2000 and that the marijuana crop was his.

Prior to the trial, Cauley had given a statement to police in which he
claimed Easterbrook approached him after he was charged and that the
lease was a fraud.

Cauley testified the statement he gave police was false, a story the
jury didn't buy.

"I think it's fair to conclude that it was obvious the jury rejected
at least some if not much of Cauley's evidence," Superior Court
Justice Douglas Rutherford noted during the sentencing hearing. "The
jury certainly rejected that Cauley was solely responsible for the
grow operation and had no reasonable doubt that Easterbrook was at
least a party to the production of the marijuana crop on his property."

The jury did acquit Easterbrook of possessing the proceeds of crime in
relation to the $4,000 police found on him the day of his arrest. He
was also found not guilty of possessing hash oil for the purpose of
trafficking.

A weapons charge for what Rutherford described as "a frightening
arsenal of high-powered firearms" found in the farm residence was
withdrawn by the prosecution because a police witness wasn't available
to testify and the weapons had already been destroyed.

Rutherford rejected a defence request for a conditional sentence,
saying such crimes must be deterred and denounced.

While conceding it was difficult to put an exact value on the crop,
the judge said "these kind of grow operations are very profitable
commercially."

Prosecutor Brian Evely requested a jail sentence of 18 months to two
years, citing the size of the operation, the degree of planning and
deliberation involved as well as Easterbrook's criminal record.

The record includes several previous drug-related offences, assault
causing bodily harm, obstructing police, impaired driving and
breaching court orders.