Appeal of grow-op conviction dismissed
A B.C. Court of Appeal Justice has upheld a lower-court judgment that found a man guilty of operating a large-scale marijuana grow operation out of a Pilot Mountain home.
The case against Steven Andrew Delege was based on circumstantial evidence. In the appeal, counsel for Delege argued B.C. Supreme Court Justice John Steeves failed to apply the correct standard for assessing circumstantial evidence and erred in concluding the evidence established Delege’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. But Court of Appeal Justice Mary Newbury found Steeves made the right call.
“In my view, while this case is close to the line, it does not meet the standard for an unreasonable verdict,” she wrote in the decision supported by two other Court of Appeal Justices.
Delege, and his father, “Ben” Gjisbertus Jacbus Delege, were arrested in December 2012.
Police, who had been surveilling the property, saw Steven Delege back his truck and flatbed trailer up the home’s garage. Although they had seen his father’s vehicle on the property several times, it was the first time they had seen Delege. No more than eight minutes after the he had arrived, police executed a search warrant. Delege, who answered the door, was wearing socks but no shoes and police immediately noticed an “overwhelming and distinctive smell” of marijuana. They also found evidence of electricity theft and a fingerprint from Steven Delege on the side of a fuse box.
Crown argued the evidence added up to Steven Delege participating in the venture. Police seized 196 pounds of marijuana that was two to three weeks from harvest. The value of the crop ranged from $352,800 at the pound level to $878,640 at the gram level.
In part, Steeves found that while it was impossible to say when Delege had touched the panel, it was “extremely unlikely” he did so in the eight minutes he had been inside the house.
Steven Delege was found guilty in April 2016 and in March 2017 he was sentenced to one year in jail followed by two years probation. Ben Delege was sentenced to nine months in jail in October 2016. The full reasons for the decision are posted with this story at pgcitizen.ca.