Pubdate: Mon, 05 Sep 2005
Source: Calgary Herald (CN AB)
Copyright: 2005 Calgary Herald
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/calgary/calgaryherald/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/66
Author: Daryl Slade
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

JUDGE IMPOSES JAIL TIME FOR POT GROW OPERATION

Conditional Sentence Request Rejected

A Calgary woman has been sentenced to a year in jail after police found a 
marijuana grow operation in her northeast home while responding to a 911 
call. Before hanging up, the caller said she and her son had been 
pepper-sprayed during a home invasion.

Provincial court Judge Cheryl Daniel earlier rejected a bid for an 18-month 
conditional jail sentence to be served in the community by Quyen Qu Nguyen, 
who pleaded guilty to possession of the 217 plants for the purposes of 
trafficking, saying it was not proportionate to the gravity of the offence.

"It would not adequately denounce Mrs. Nguyen's conduct, nor do I believe 
it would deter others from undertaking similar enterprises," Daniel said in 
a written decision released last week.

"In fact, I find the imposition of a conditional sentence, in these very 
serious and aggravating circumstances would actually encourage others to 
engage in marijuana production, possession and trafficking because, on a 
cost-benefit analysis, a conditional sentence does not begin to outweigh 
the very real potential for fat, easy and enormous profit, and the real 
likelihood they might not even be caught."

Defence lawyer Jim Lutz and Crown prosecutor Karen Molle had made a joint 
submission for the conditional sentence.

Nguyen has appealed the sentence and is on bail pending an appeal hearing.

Police noted a very strong smell of marijuana in the home when they 
responded to the 911 hang-up call on March 30, 2004, and subsequently 
obtained a search warrant.

They discovered a two-stage marijuana grow operation in the house on 41st 
Street N.E. The plants had an estimated street value of $300,000 if sold at 
$280 an ounce.

Up to five crops per year could be grown with the equipment in the home, 
police said. There were also 300 empty plant pots in the basement, 
indicating either there had been previous crops or intent to expand the 
operation.

Nguyen had claimed she did not know anything about what was going on in the 
basement, saying she had rented it out to others, but the judge rejected that.

Daniel said the evidence indicated she "obviously" controlled entry to the 
basement.
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman