Regina v. S.B. [Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta, Calgary – March – April, 2011] Client had a heated oral exchange with a school official regarding his daughter. Within 24 hours of the non-threatening conversation child welfare investigators were on our client’s front door step in the company of two uniformed policemen demanding entry to his home. Upon entering the home all four intruders immediately confirmed that our client’s daughter was a normal, happy, healthy child who did not present with protection concerns. Unfortunately, the intruders detected the scent of marijuana and conducted a tour (translation: “search”) of our client’s home. As a consequence of that search the police seized approximately 33 kilograms of cannabis marijuana. According to the police the so-called street value of the seizure was estimated to be $300,000.00. At trial we challenged the legality of the search on constitutional grounds and sought the exclusion of all evidence acquired by the police during the search aforesaid. At the conclusion of a hard fought full week trial the learned Trial Justice ruled that there had been a violation of our client’s constitutional right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure as guaranteed by section 8 of the Charter and excluded all evidence acquired during the search of our client’s home pursuant to section 24(2) of the Charter. Bottom line: a verdict of not guilty was entered relative to this most serious prosecution.
For an official transcript of the judgement click here.