Pubdate: Tue, 13 Jun 2006
Source: Kitchener-Waterloo Record (CN ON)
Copyright: 2006 Kitchener-Waterloo Record
Contact:  http://www.therecord.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/225
Author: Dianne Wood
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/af.htm (Asset Forfeiture)

CROWN DRUG SEIZURES CALLED UNFAIR

Farmers who plant seeds don't always produce a bumper crop, and the 
same can be said for marijuana growers.

That will be one of the arguments advanced by defence lawyers this 
week at a hearing where the federal government is trying to seize 
four Kitchener homes used to grow pot in 2004.

A federal prosecutor is applying for forfeiture of homes used by five 
family members to grow 593 marijuana plants. The prosecution 
considers the operation a sophisticated one and believes forfeiture 
of the homes, plus jail sentences, are needed to denounce the crime.

But lawyers will argue this was not a major operation deserving of 
such heavy punishment. A couple and three children still live in one 
of the homes at 4 Wyandotte Crt.

Lawyers say forfeiting the homes would be disproportionate to the crime.

"If they never made any money growing marijuana, and you're asking 
them to give up hundreds of thousands of dollars, that would be 
cruel," Craig Parry, the lawyer for one of the accused said outside 
Kitchener's Ontario Court yesterday.

He produced photographs of some of the seized pot plants, scoffing at 
police suggestions that some of the spindly plants would be worth 
$1,000 on the street. That would make the whole pot operation worth 
over half a million dollars.

But some of the plants didn't grow well and wouldn't have produced 
much of anything, Parry will argue.

"They're not great farmers," he said."Ask any farmer who never had 
any training how he did in his first year of business.

"There seems to be a blind faith that if you plant a seed, you'll get 
a yield. That's junk science."

Defence lawyers will challenge the government's method of estimating 
the yield and value of the plants. To do so, they'll call a Kitchener 
man who's been convicted three times of growing marijuana.

Les Soloman now has a government licence to grow it legally for 
medical purposes. Because he's been growing pot since the early 
1980s, lawyers will try to have him accepted as an expert witness on 
growing marijuana.

"He's got some experience in the field," Parry said.

Federal prosecutor Mike O'Malley wouldn't discuss the government's 
case yesterday. But a year ago, a local federal prosecutor, Kathleen 
Nolan, gave notice that the government would regularly try to seize 
homes used in pot grows to reduce the profit for greedy drug operators.

The five people have already pleaded guilty to charges related to 
growing marijuana at the homes. Their sentencing will take place 
after Justice Gary Hearn rules on the forfeiture issue.

Their lawyers all agreed yesterday that some forfeiture was required, 
but not all four homes. They concede the homes are offence-related property.

By agreeing to partial forfeiture, they hope to reduce the sentences 
to conditional sentences of house arrest, and avoid jail terms. Each 
home had equity of about $70,000. The homes are at 4 Wyandotte Crt., 
2 Corfield Dr., 117 Oneida Pl. and 3121 Briarfield St. The pot 
operations were in the basements.

The Oneida Place home was sold and the government wants the cash forfeited.

Lawyer Brennan Smart, who represents Chien Khac Nguyen, the owner of 
the Wyandotte Court home, said outside court that if his client loses 
that home, his family and their three children will have to find 
another place to live. But that's preferable to going to jail, he said.

Changes to the Criminal Code and the Controlled Drugs and Substances 
Act allow seizures of homes if they have been used in a marijuana 
operation and if seizing them would be proportional to the crime.

Today, the prosecution is expected to put its expert on the stand, a 
Waterloo regional police officer who will testify about the dangers 
of marijuana grow operations, and explain how police come up with 
expected yields and value of the plants.

Also convicted are Cuong Khac Nguyen and his wife, Huyen Le Thi Vu, 
and Que Kim Thi Nguyen, who is the wife of Chien Khac Nguyen. Nam Thi 
Dinh, the mother of Cuong Khac Nguyen and Que Kim Thi Nguyen is also charged.
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