Pubdate: Thu, 03 Jul 2014 Source: Calgary Sun, The (CN AB) Copyright: 2014 The Calgary Sun Contact: http://www.calgarysun.com/letter-to-editor Website: http://www.calgarysun.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/67 Author: Kevin Martin Page: 6 HOME SAVED BY POLICE ERROR Senior keeps dwelling after grow-op bust The Calgary senior busted for keeping a marijuana grow-op in her basement won't lose her home, Alberta's top court has ruled. In a written decision, a three-member Court of Appeal panel said Justice Carolyn Phillips decision to order Heng Kiet Kouch to forfeit her home was based on inadmissible evidence. As a result, the appeal judges said, Kouch, 67, will get to keep the Applewood home where she was growing 128 marijuana plants. Phillips, in ordering forfeiture in June 2013, said the value of the drugs - pegged at $100,000 to $160,000 on the street in a police report - was similar to the home's $169,000 value. The Court of Queen's Bench judge said that and the fact the home was an integral part of Kouch's crime, were enough to order forfeiture under the Victim Restitution and Compensation Payment Act. But the appeal judges said the evidence of the drugs' value was inadmissible in the form it was given. The estimate was contained as an attachment to an affidavit sworn by a Calgary Police Service member and was said to be the professional opinion of another officer. "That 'professional opinion' is unsworn," the appeal judges noted. They said the rules under the act say the laws of evidence apply. "Forfeiture to the state of a citizen's rights in her property, particularly when it is her dwelling place, calls for scrupulous adherence to all applicable procedural and legal requirements," they said. Had the crop value been established, Phillips' ruling would have been upheld. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt