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.
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MAP posted-by: Matt