The judge in the trial of a Vancouver man accused of dealing drugs in the Okanagan struck down claims that police did not have proper grounds to arrest him.
Behrang Khosravi was arrested in July of 2016 after police found cocaine, heroin, and meth in his West Kelowna hotel room.
This came after a three-week investigation, where Khosravi was suspected of dealing drugs to multiple people from his car.
Khosravi argued that police had no right to arrest him without a warrant, and that they also should not have strip searched him.
This led to a week-long voir dire, or a trial within a trial, in which both the crown and defence questioned RCMP officers who were involved in Khosravi’s arrest.
Judge Allan Betton decided on Wednesday that there was, in fact, sufficient evidence to justify both the arrest and the strip search.
Betton also stated that some evidence gathered at the time of the arrest, such as the contents of Khosravi’s cell phone, would not be presented during the trial due to privacy concerns.
A second, briefer voir dire took place Wednesday afternoon to determine if the crown’s final witness, an RCMP officer, would be qualified to testify during the trial on the effects of illegal drugs.
The trial is expected to resume Thursday morning.