Pubdate: Sat, 28 Aug 2004 Source: Prince Albert Daily Herald (CN SN) Copyright: 2004 Prince Albert Daily Herald Contact: http://www.canada.com/princealbert/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1918 Author: Charlene Tebbutt STRIP SEARCH REJECTED A 33-year-old woman has been acquitted of drug trafficking after a provincial court judge found City Police violated her rights during her May 2002 arrest. Kimberly Ann Lafond was found not guilty Tuesday in Prince Albert provincial court of possession for the purposes of trafficking. "The violations (of Lafond's rights) here went far beyond ones of a mere technical nature and were extremely serious," Judge Rosemary Weisgerber wrote in her 56-page decision. Specifically, Weisgerber found police did not have a right to arrest Lafond after pulling over the van she was riding in. Weisgerber said a strip search and subsequent body cavity search were also unjustified. Weisgerber said police should have gotten a search warrant or Lafond's informed consent before having a doctor search her. "It is clear that a body cavity search ranks at the highest end of the continuum for intrusiveness and thereby calls for a correspondingly high degree of justification for its use," Weisgerber wrote. "I am satisfied that the accused believed that she had no choice but to submit to the body cavity searches." The decision relates to evidence presented at Lafond's trial in October. On May 9, 2002, City Police pulled over a van in downtown Prince Albert after receiving a confidential tip about the possibility of drugs inside. Lafond, who was in the van, was charged after a balloon with 94 dilaudid tablets was allegedly found inside her rectum. Weisgerber said police were justified in acting quickly on the tip. However, they should have gotten more information about the source and reliability of the tip before detaining and searching Lafond, she said. "In my view, the presence of the factors indicated above, without more, are insufficient to support a finding that the police officer in this case was in possession of information that went beyond mere suspicion and would constitute reasonable and probable grounds for arresting the accused," Weisgerber said. Weisgerber also acquitted Lafond of a charge of possession of a controlled substance. Defence lawyer Val Harvey argued that two marijuana cigarettes found near Lafond's purse inside the van did not mean they belonged to Lafond. An application by the Crown to seize the $670 found on Lafond when she was arrested was denied as well, based on her acquittal. Dilaudid is used as a painkiller. However, the tablets are also used by IV users since they are easily dissolvable and leave little residue inside needles. They have a high street value and sell for about $20 a pill. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh