SEARCH THAT FOUND 34 POUNDS OF POT IN CAR'S TRUNK RULED UNLAWFUL

When a late model Volvo rolled up to an RCMP checkpoint on Highway 3
near Midway on March 30, 2006, both the occupant and the vehicle
attracted the attention of the sergeant in charge.

The driver didn't own the vehicle, he was alone, unshaven and wearing
a dark hoodie; he was pale and his head was shaking. There was a
radar detector on the dashboard and the vehicle had a lived-in
appearance, with Tim Hortons food wrappers strewn on the floor,
suggesting the driver had been hitting drive-throughs to eat instead
of getting out of the vehicle.

The sergeant -- referred to only as Sgt. Smith in the B.C. Court of
Appeal judgment -- took a hard look and decided the driver fit the
profile of someone who might be transporting drugs. He called for a
police dog that was at the roadblock with its handler.

The dog walked around the car and sniffed out drugs. When the trunk
was opened, the police found 34 one-pound bags of marijuana inside.

The driver, Sebastien Payette, was arrested, charged and eventually
convicted of possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking.

But did Sgt. Smith have reasonable grounds to use the sniffer dog?

A B.C. Supreme Court judge decided it was a good bust, but the Court
of Appeal took a different view and decided that each of the factors
that combined to arouse the officer's suspicions, taken singly, could
have an innocuous explanation.

The search was ruled unlawful and a breach of Payette's charter rights.

The court also found that the seized pot could not be used in
evidence, and so dismissed the conviction.