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A wacky tip about someone tied up in a house wasn’t good enough reason for police to search a property without a warrant, a B.C. Supreme Court judge has ruled.
The federal Crown stayed marijuana charges against Karen Brunskil and Steven Leahy after Justice John Truscott said police violated their rights when they searched their property April 26, 2009.
The RCMP were investigating an anonymous second-hand report, received by phone, suggesting someone was tied up at a house. Two officers arrived at Leahy and Brunskill’s home, located in a rural area near 100 Mile House, and said they needed to look around.
The couple allowed the police to look inside their house, but balked when police said they wanted to search the outbuildings as well. Growing marijuana was found inside three locked sheds behind the house. Officers forced their way inside the sheds.
Justice Truscott said the officers had no objective reason to think anything amiss was afoot. The initial anonymous call to the RCMP was bizarre and contained little rational information suggesting someone was in danger.
The couple’s behaviour at the head of their driveway after police arrived was not unusual. They had no criminal records and police had no information to suggest the house was producing drugs.
“In my view, when the two constables went to the address and spoke to the accused at the front gate and were told that there was no one tied up at that residence, they should have accepted that and left,” Justice Truscott said.
“I recognize that from the police perspective it is always considered risky to ignore a complaint, but there must be some common sense exercised before intruding on a person's home.
“It is actually quite alarming that the police should have considered that they had the right to carry out a warrantless search on the basis of such a telephone call. I consider, in all the circumstances, the police acted in bad faith in carrying out this search when it was clearly an unreasonable suspicion,” the judge said.
The trial was held in January. Truscott’s written decision in the case was publicly released Wednesday.
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menthelius says... 
0If you are going to tell people what is right and wrong, than you better make sure that what you're doing is right! I hate hypocrites.
Posted on February 12, 2010 @ 9:06 am PST | Report post to Editor | 3259814