POLICE SEARCH TOSSED OUT

Third Suspect Walks Free After Judge Rules His Rights Were Violated

A suspected drug dealer found with two rocks of cocaine in his
possession has walked free because of serious police misconduct cited
by a Manitoba judge.

The case is the third one this month in which a seemingly certain
conviction was lost because of the actions of Winnipeg police.

Police admitted they conducted a warrantless search on Eric Sinclair's
vehicle within minutes of stopping it in the North End.

The officers had been sitting inside their cruiser car in the parking
lot of a Robin's Donuts when they observed a man approach Sinclair's
car, reach his hand in and appear to quickly exchange something with
the driver, court was told.

Police -- believing they'd just witnessed a drug deal -- quickly
stopped the vehicle and noticed two balls of foil sitting on the
passenger seat.

An officer reached inside the car, opened the foil and found two rocks
of crack cocaine. A cellular phone was also ringing non-stop. Sinclair
was arrested and charged with possession for the purpose of
trafficking.

Defence lawyer Bruce Bonney filed a motion for exclusion of evidence
on the grounds it was illegally obtained. He noted the Charter of
Rights and Freedoms requires police to have a warrant except in unique
cases where the preservation of evidence or safety of officers is in
doubt.

"In this case, police could have shut the doors, guarded the car and
obtained a warrant from a magistrate. They didn't need to reach right
in," said Bonney.

Queen's Bench Justice Murray Sinclair agreed police breached the
charter rights of the accused and ruled to exclude the evidence.

Without the drugs, the Crown had no case. The accused -- who likely
faced a penitentiary term because of the charge -- walked out of court
with a clean record.

"It's getting bad. This kind of stuff seems to be happening more and
more," said defence lawyer John Corona, who expects more legal
challenges against police conduct based on a decision last week by the
Supreme Court of Canada. The country's highest court ruled that police
officers across the country can no longer play hunches and go on
"fishing expeditions" for evidence when questioning potential suspects.

Their decision involved a Winnipeg case where police searched the
pocket of a man spotted walking near the scene of a suspected break-in.

Although police found 27.5 grams of marijuana on Phillip Mann, the
evidence was discarded by the high court on the grounds it was
illegally obtained. As a result, Mann was cleared of drug-trafficking
charges.

Mann agreed to let police do a "security search", which officers
describe as a "pat-down of the extremities as well as the torso" in
order to check for potential weapons.

Police say Mann was wearing a pullover sweater that had a pouch in the
front. An officer brushed against the pouch and said he felt something
soft inside. He searched and found a plastic bag containing the pot.

"The search here went beyond what was required to mitigate concerns
about officer safety and reflects a serious breach of (Mann's)
protection against unreasonable search and seizure," Justice Frank
Iacobucci wrote in a majority decision that divided the high court
5-2.

Also last week, a judge threw out an incriminating statement from a
man charged with driving drunk and crushing an innocent bystander's
legs with his car.

Ryan Relleve was acquitted of all charges stemming from the near-fatal
crash in April 2001 after a judge ruled arresting police officers
violated his rights.

Relleve denied incriminating himself and said police threatened him
and lied. Queen's Bench Justice Deborah McCawley excluded the
statement on the grounds police failed in their responsibility to
offer Relleve a chance to speak with a lawyer.