A Gardiner hearing was held to determine the number of marijuana plants for sentencing purposes after convictions for production and possession for trafficking.
The Crown sought to engage a mandatory minimum sentence based on a plant count exceeding 500.
The defence presented expert statistical evidence challenging the adequacy of the police's sampling methodology.
The court found that the Crown failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the number of marijuana plants exceeded 500 due to the arbitrary sampling process, thus precluding reliance on the mandatory minimum.
However, the court accepted that it was a substantial marijuana grow operation for general sentencing purposes.
