Pubdate: Tue, 27 Mar 2007
Source: North Shore News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2007 North Shore News
Contact:  http://www.nsnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/311
Author: Jane Seyd

JUDGE SIDES WITH SHOOTER

A man who got so sick of drug deals going on upstairs in his 
landlady's house that he fired off a gun as a warning sign got a 
conditional discharge Thursday from a sympathetic judge who said the 
public is "pretty sick" of dealers and other petty criminals.

"Last night I saw a bunch of guys tipping over stuff and running down 
the street. I could have used you," Judge William Diebolt told 
27-year-old Sennen Joseph of West Vancouver. "I have a really hard 
time giving you a criminal record."

Crown counsel Jeremy Crowhurst said Joseph fired off a rifle into the 
air at 4:30 in the morning Dec. 29, 2006 out of sheer frustration.

Crowhurst said at the time, Joseph was renting a basement suite from 
a woman who was well-known as a drug dealer on the Squamish Nation's 
Capilano Reserve. The people who came to the house to buy drugs often 
knocked on Joseph's door instead at all hours of the day and night, 
said Crowhurst.

Eventually, said Crowhurst, Joseph decided to do something to "rattle 
everybody's cage" and fired off his rifle in the street. "It had the 
desired effect of freaking everybody out," he added.

Further drama unfolded as neighbours called the police and members of 
the Vancouver Police Department's emergency response team surrounded 
the house at 225 Lawa St. after police negotiators were unable to 
reach Joseph by phone. Joseph eventually came out of the house at 
about 12:30 p.m. the following afternoon.

In court Thursday, Joseph told the judge he acted out of "sheer 
frustration." The drug deals were happening "at all hours . . . 
pretty much all night," he said.

Crowhurst said since the incident, Joseph has been evicted and the 
drug deals are continuing. "As I understand it, it's business as 
usual at the house," he said.

The judge said that next time, Joseph should call the police instead. 
"Just don't get out the rifle," he said. "We can't have vigilantism 
or someone's going to get killed."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman