Pubdate: Sat, 28 Jul 2012
Source: Montreal Gazette (CN QU)
Copyright: 2012 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact: http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/letters.html
Website: http://www.montrealgazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/274
Author: Paul Cherry

UNLUCKY POT DEALER GETS DISCHARGE IN COURT

Riviere des Prairies man arrested while police were on crack-sting
operation

MONTREAL -- The fortunes of a Riviere des Prairies man were changed
significantly Friday after a judge granted him an unconditional
discharge in a drug trafficking case where he ended up being arrested
by accident.

On Sept. 8, 2011, this 24-year-old man must have felt like the
unluckiest pot dealer on the face of the Earth. According to a summary
of details read into the court record before Quebec Court Judge Denis
Mondor at the Montreal courthouse, the Montreal police received a tip
that a crack dealer was operating in a public area in RiviA(re des
Prairies. All the police had to work with was a phone number they were
told belonged to the dealer, said defence lawyer Sarah Maude Landriault.

Plans for a sting operation were made, an undercover cop called the
number and an outdoor meeting was set up. While waiting, the
undercover officer noticed a car parked nearby. The RiviA(re des
Prairies man was inside and eventually approached.

"The police (officer) asked for crack and (he) said 'no, I have
marijuana'," Landriault recounted for Mondor.

He was placed under arrest and a search of his car turned up 37 grams
of marijuana, a scale and two cellphones. Landriault said it turned
out his arrest had nothing to do with the call placed to the crack
dealer and that he approached the undercover cop out of the blue.

After summarizing the arrest, Landriault proceeded to offer proof the
man has turned his life around since his arrest. She produced letters
stating that he is very active in his church, does volunteer work and
had completed 40 hours of community service before his court date on
Friday. She said he has also registered at a trade school to begin
studying electrical mechanics in September. She noted that he has no
criminal record and was not known to police before his arrest.

"He is off to a fresh start," she said while arguing against any other
type of sentence.

"It wouldn't be in society's interest to stop you in" the path you are
on, Mondor told the man while granting the unconditional discharge,
which means he won't be left with a criminal record.

Mondor said the type of drug involved, the amount of community service
already completed, and his plans to attend a trade school in the fall,
were factors in his decision.
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