MARIJUANA PRODUCER AVOIDS JAIL

City's first pot grower since RCMP killings sentenced

The first Calgary-area marijuana grower sentenced since the Mayerthorpe
massacre was spared a prison term yesterday. But defence lawyer Elliot
Baker defended Judge Terry Semenuk's ruling, noting the judge addressed
concerns earlier in the week about comparisons to last week's Mountie
killings in which four officers were gunned down while investigating a
marijuana grow operation.

Semenuk did not mention the murders of the four officers in handing Nguyen
Nguyen an 18-month conditional sentence.

But outside court, Baker said Semenuk did earlier raise the issue of the
public concern over the relationship between marijuana grow operations and
the Mayerthorpe slayings.

Baker said Semenuk determined there was no need to consider the case in
light of the murders after RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli backed
down from earlier statements.

The top Mountie initially said it was time to review Canada's drug strategy
following the slayings, but later said the killings were as much linked to
stolen property as drugs.

"I think an informed person would recognize Mayerthorpe wasn't a grow op,"
Baker said of the 20 marijuana plants found on killer James Roszko's farm.

Nguyen, 42, admitted overseeing a crop of 506 marijuana plants at his
Chestermere home.

Based on a tip, Mounties went to Nguyen's Cove Point residence last April
13 and spoke to Nguyen, who allowed them to enter his home.

After searching the basement and finding the plants, with a potential
profit of $500,000 per harvest, cops ob-tained a search warrant and Nguyen
was arrested.

In handing Nguyen a conditional term, which includes 12 months of house
arrest, Semenuk noted the now-Calgary resident was not in line to reap huge
profits from the operation.

Nguyen had agreed to allow others to grow the plants in his home and had
been paid $6,000 for a previous harvest, the provincial court judge noted.