JUDGE QUASHES DRUG CASE OVER RCMP RIGHTS VIOLATION

Warrant Itself Was Valid, but Ruling Found Cops Made an Improper
Entry into Home

VANCOUVER -- The case against a man charged after 500 marijuana
plants were found in a B.C. home has been dismissed after a judge
ruled that RCMP violated the accused's rights.

In May 2009, Van Dang Truong was charged with production of marijuana
and possession of marijuana for the purposes of trafficking. RCMP
executed a search warrant on a two-storey house with an attached
garage in Gibsons, B.C., and found more than 500 marijuana plants
along with fans, lights and other equipment common to grow-ops.

Truong was arrested near a bathroom on the upper floor of the home.
At trial, the accused made a number of charter challenges, including
that his right to be secure from reasonable search and seizure had
been breached and that the warrant was invalid.

The trial judge, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Nathan Smith, found that
while the warrant was valid, the RCMP had made an improper entry into the home.

In the absence of urgent circumstances, police are required to knock
first, announce their presence and allow a reasonable time for any
occupants to respond. Police in the Truong case knocked on the door
but waited at most only 45 seconds before using a battering ram to
bust into the home.

Just before using the battering ram, an officer reported that she'd
seen the blinds move in the window next to the door.

But the officer made no mention of the blinds moving in her notes of
the incident, an omission the judge found troubling.

Following his arrest, Truong was also denied his right to speak to a
lawyer of his choice.

When asked by the officers whether he had a lawyer, the accused had
given police a name, but the officers ignored that request, a
"significant" breach of his rights, said the judge.

"In this case, I have found the police took what can best be called a
casual approach to the accused's rights under the charter, doing the
minimum necessary to honour them in form while effectively ignoring
them in substance."