Pubdate: Fri, 01 Jun 2012
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2012 The Ottawa Citizen
Contact: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Author: Andrew Seymour

FORMER OFFICER CONTESTS DRUG-RAID WARRANT

Property Search Violated Charter Rights, Man Argues

A former Ottawa police officer now accused of growing and selling 
more than $1.4 million worth of marijuana attacked the warrant police 
used to find the plants, arguing in court Thursday that it was based 
on the information of unreliable tipsters and violated his Charter 
rights protecting him from unreasonable search and seizure.

Michael Floyd wants the evidence collected during the execution of 
the warrant at his Page Road property in February 2005 - including 
1,475 marijuana plants and growing equipment - tossed out.

If that were to occur, the Crown's case against him would crumble. 
Floyd argued that two of the three tips Ottawa police drug detectives 
used to secure the warrant were anonymous and the third came from 
someone who didn't want to be identified and may have had a criminal 
record. All three were filled with errors, Floyd argued.

Very little of the tipsters' information was corroborated 
independently by police, and none of it referenced an actual crime. 
One of the anonymous tips was more than a year old, while the other 
came through CrimeStoppers.

"All we have here is a strong suspicion, not a probability," said 
Floyd, who is defending himself. "I don't think any of us want to 
live in a country where, based on a suspicion, police can get a 
search warrant and come in your home."

Floyd also argued that his hydro bills were "meaningless" without 
proper interpretation and may have been obtained by police illegally. 
Floyd is also charged with theft of electricity.

Ontario Court Justice David Paciocco admitted he was "troubled" by 
the reliability of the informants and the reliance on the hydro 
information without comparing it to other similar-sized properties. 
Paciocco noted the detective admitted on the witness stand she 
couldn't read her hydro bill and let her husband take care of it at 
home, but testified as an expert on Floyd's hydro usage.

Floyd also suggested police may have lied when they said they didn't 
conduct surveillance on his property because they knew it proved 
their tipsters wrong. Floyd is also seeking information about a 2004 
traffic stop that he believes was a ruse to stall him from arriving 
home while someone tried to break into his garage. Floyd said he 
suspected it was the police.

Neither issue relates to the search warrant, however.

Federal prosecutor Melody Foerster argued that, even if portions of 
the tipsters' information was excluded, there was still enough there 
for the warrant to be issued. If Paciocco found the warrant breached 
Floyd's Charter rights, excluding the evidence was too drastic a 
remedy, she added. She argued there was a "strong societal interest" 
in seeing the case proceed.

Paciocco could find the warrant violated Floyd's rights, but choose 
to allow the evidence to remain.

Floyd joined the Ottawa Police in 1981 and was publicly commended for 
bravery at a ceremony in 1986.

Off-duty and unarmed, Floyd had seen a robber wrestle a sack of money 
from a bank employee and chased the bandit down Queen Street. Though 
the bank robber pointed his gun at Floyd's head and warned him off, 
Floyd kept pursuing him and was able to get the licence plate number 
of the getaway car, which led to the robber's arrest.

A Citizen report at the time said Floyd was commended for "courage in 
the face of life-threatening danger." He left the force in the 1980s.

The matter is scheduled to be back in court June 18.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom