Pubdate: Fri, 02 May 2008
Source: Regina Leader-Post (CN SN)
Copyright: 2008 The Leader-Post Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/regina/leaderpost/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/361
Author: Barb Pacholik, Staff Writer

AGECOUTAY APPEALS TRAFFICKING SENTENCE

They went off to prison pleading their innocence, and now a second man
convicted in Saskatchewan's largest marijuana grow-op bust has backed
up his words by filing an appeal.

In his brief handwritten notice of appeal, Robert Stanley Agecoutay,
49, says he wants a new trial because of "errors committed" by the
judge at his first trial in Regina earlier this year.

Agecoutay was sentenced last week to 31/2 years in prison on charges
stemming from a massive marijuana grow-operation near his house on the
Pasqua First Nation. In his sentencing decision, Court of Queen's
Bench Justice Frank Gerein called Agecoutay "a follower" who played a
lesser role in the potentially multi-million-dollar operation.

An RCMP raid on Aug. 21, 2005, uncovered six large greenhouses and
four smaller plots filled with about 6,000 nearly mature marijuana
plants.

Agecoutay's 52-year-old brother Lawrence -- the leader of the group --
was sentenced to six years in prison. He too has already filed an appeal.

Chester Fernand Girard, described by the judge as "the brains of the
operation," was sentenced to 51/2 years. The 59-year-old Ontario man
paid with cash and marijuana seeds to be adopted by the group, whom he
linked up with through the Internet.

Girard had not filed an appeal as of Thursday.

A jury found the three guilty of marijuana production and possession
of the drug for the purpose of trafficking.

Lawrence Agecoutay has maintained they were growing hemp at the
direction of the "Creator" to provide medicine for people with cancer
and diabetes, but Gerein concluded the site was "for the express
purpose of obtaining a large sum of money."

Although the Agecoutays were represented by lawyers for the trial,
they are currently handling their appeals on their own.

Robert Agecoutay's one-page notice of appeal, filed earlier this week,
references an appeal filed last month by his brother.

Lawrence Agecoutay contends trial errors were of such a "magnitude"
they affected the outcome. Those alleged errors include finding the
RCMP search legal, failing to accept the defendants' Charter
arguments, and failing to accept the "belief system" under which they
operated.

No date for an appeal hearing has been set.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin