Pubdate: Sun, 11 Feb 2007 Source: Province, The (CN BC) Copyright: 2007 The Province Contact: http://www.canada.com/theprovince/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476 Author: Keith Fraser Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin) STRIP SEARCH DIDN'T VIOLATE RIGHTS: JUDGE But Arresting Woman Said To Be Unjust A New Westminster woman's rights have been found to have been violated after her arrest, but not by her subsequent strip-search, at the Vancouver jail that turned up baggies of cocaine and heroin in her brassiere. The evidence against Xia Xia Vixaysongkham was ruled admissible Friday and she was found guilty of possession of the drugs -- but not guilty of possession for the purpose of trafficking. The case against Vixaysongkham began in July 2004 when police, responding to a report of an argument between her and her boyfriend, attended the boyfriend's apartment. Police allegedly found a marijuana grow-op. She was arrested on drug-production and trafficking charges and released on a promise to appear. Just before the court return date, she got a phone call from police telling her she need not attend court on that day and she'd receive a summons. She gave them the New Westminster address of her parents as her place of residence, but the summons requiring her to attend court was mailed to her boyfriend. Because the summons was returned and she didn't receive it before being pulled over on a traffic stop, she was taken to jail on an arrest warrant that had been issued. As she was strip-searched, a female guard felt something lumpy in her bra and found two baggies with rock-like substances underneath a flap in the bra. The baggies contained 5.12 grams of cocaine and .81 grams of heroin. In a hearing before B.C. Supreme Court Justice David Tysoe, her lawyer argued that her Charter rights had been breached. The judge found that her rights had been violated when she was detained and imprisoned pursuant to the arrest warrant, but added that the drugs seized were serious narcotics and the admission of the evidence would not bring the administration of justice into disrepute. Her rights were not violated by the strip-search itself, the judge ruled. Vixaysongkham is to be sentenced in April. She goes to trial on the grow-op charges in July. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman