POT-HOUSE SEARCH LEGAL, JUDGE RULES

Called By Hydro Workers After Blackout, Police Find Large Marijuana Operation

CAMBRIDGE -- The police search of a suspected home-based marijuana-growing
operation in Cambridge last year was not conducted illegally, Judge Colin
Westman ruled yesterday.

David Lang, the lawyer for accused marijuana grower Hau Van Do, contended
in Ontario Court in Kitchener that Waterloo regional police officers had no
right to enter the house last Sept. 23 when they arrived to provide
security for Cambridge Hydro workers.

The hydro workers had traced the source of a day-long neighbourhood
blackout to the house at 66 The Greenway, and called in police for
assistance, court was told. After police entered the house and saw the
marijuana plants, they called for a search warrant.

Lang argued that the police had no right to enter the house until after
they had the warrant.

"Given that they had a suspicion (that the house contained a
marijuana-growing operation), I submit that they were making a criminal
investigation," said Lang. "My position is that the police breached the
Charter (of Rights and Freedoms.)

Federal prosecutor Justin Heimpel countered that under the Ontario
Electricity Act, the hydro workers had a right to enter the house -- and
the right to call in police for security.

"They were going into a situation where they weren't sure what was going on
and they needed security."

Heimpel pointed out that when the police and electrical crews arrived at
the door and identified themselves, the suspect let them in and showed them
to the electrical panels in the basement.

"There's no question they had suspicions," the judge said.

"I'm prepared to infer that the hydro officials were there acting in the
best interests of their customers. They were doing, in my view, what is
totally reasonable under the circumstances . . . to rectify an electrical
difficulty."

Westman added that even if the police had not gone into the house, the
hydro employees would have seen any marijuana plants and told police.

Waterloo regional police Const. Minh Nguyen testified that he was
dispatched to the house with other police officers at about 9:40 p.m. to
assist Hydro crews. Nguyen said that Do opened the door and allowed the
officers and the electrical crew to enter.

Nguyen said he spoke to the accused in Vietnamese, and that he was polite,
offered no resistance and seemed to understand the situation. Nguyen added
that after the officers saw marijuana plants, he arrested Do and read him
his rights in Vietnamese.

Nguyen said Do told him he had come to Canada from Australia, and that he
did not own the house -- only that he was looking after it for another man.

The trial continues today.