MAN ACQUITTED OF GROW-OP CHARGES MAY STILL LOSE HOME

A Qualicum Beach homeowner who was acquitted of charges involving a
marijuana grow-op has lost his bid to stop the B.C. government from
trying to seize the rural property.

In January 2009 the RCMP executed a search warrant for the property on
Koskimo Road owned by Christopher Shoquist.

In an outbuilding, police found 396 marijuana plants, a digital scale,
highwattage light bulbs and other marijuana paraphernalia.

Shoquist was in the building when the police arrived and was charged
with producing a controlled substance and possession of a controlled
substance for the purpose of trafficking.

But when the trial opened, Shoquist challenged the validity of the
search warrant after it became apparent police were trespassing on his
land when they made observations prior to the search.

Police made the observations from a fence they believed was outside
the property but that was in fact inside the property. A judge found
that the warrant was therefore invalid and that the subsequent search
of the outbuilding was a warrantless search and unreasonable.

The evidence seized was held inadmissible and due to the fact that the
Crown had no other evidence, Shoquist was acquitted.

Despite the acquittal, in January the director of civil forfeiture
filed suit against Shoquist.

The Vancouver Island man responded by arguing that it was an abuse of
process to go after him and sought to have the claims stayed.

But in a ruling posted online Tuesday, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Dean
Wilson found that there was nothing inherently abusive about the
director pursuing the civil proceedings and noted the trial judge
found an absence of bad faith on the part of RCMP.

"I do not characterize that police conduct as "flagrant," "egregious,"
"unfair," "unreasonable," "oppressive", "irrational" or "vexatious,"
he said.

Wilson dismissed Shoquist's application and ordered that he file his
response to the civil claim within the next three weeks.