Pubdate: Sat, 25 Feb 2006
Source: Windsor Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2006 The Windsor Star
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/windsor/windsorstar/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/501
Author: Doug Schmidt, Windsor Star
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

WINDSOR MAN CLEARED OF POT-GROWING CHARGES

A Windsor man charged two years ago with operating a sophisticated
grow house, trafficking in marijuana and stealing hydro was cleared in
Superior Court Friday following a two-day drug trial.

Tranh Van Tran, 37, argued successfully that, while he owned the
rental home targeted by the Windsor police drug squad following a tip,
it was the tenant renting the property who used it to grow pot.

"He feels vindicated. He feels he was the victim of this the whole
time, and he feels victimized by the whole process," said Tran's
lawyer Daniel Topp. Justice Edward Ducharme "believed him to be a
credible witness," he added.

Police discovered 240 pot plants with an estimated street value of
$269,000 when they raided a small home in the 1300-block of Cottage
Place on Jan. 9, 2004. An illegal hydro hookup supported the grow operation.

Tran was arrested three months later, but the judge this week believed
Tran when he said police had collared the wrong suspect. Through a
Vietnamese interpreter, Tran, originally from Vietnam but a Canadian
citizen since 1996, testified his tenant, who disappeared after the
police raid, was also Vietnamese.

"He's Vietnamese, therefore he's guilty," said Topp, expressing
criticism of how the police zeroed in on his client.

"I told the judge, had this landlord been a 60-year-old Irish lady,
these charges may never have been laid."

Topp described his client as a quiet married man who works at an
autoparts plant and who bought the property as an investment.

"It was his first time as a landlord, and he told me it was his last
time," said Topp. 
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