Pubdate: Sun, 16 Sep 2012
Source: North Shore News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 North Shore News
Contact:  http://www.nsnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/311
Author: Jane Seyd

DOPE-DEALING TRIAL WAITS 46 MONTHS

Defence Argues Case Should Be Tossed Based on Precedent

A lawyer for three people accused of running a marijuana dial-a-dope 
ring under the guise of providing medicinal marijuana has asked a 
judge to toss out the case, citing a four-year delay in bringing the 
case to trial.

Defence lawyer Kirk Tousaw asked provincial court Judge Joanne 
Challenger to throw the case out, saying it's well beyond standards 
established by the Supreme Court of Canada to wait 46 months for a trial.

Jason Thon, 43, Kevin Moriarity, 42, and Debra McDonaldMyers, 32, 
were all charged with trafficking marijuana in November 2008.

The charges followed a lengthy investigation stemming from a Sept. 
2007 CrimeStoppers tip in which police were told a club that said it 
was providing medical marijuana to sick people was actually a 
dial-a-dope operation. The group had been operating under the name 
the Compassion Association.

Following the lead, police searched the home of Thon, the alleged 
kingpin of the group, in Vancouver, as well as a storage locker. They 
seized nearly six kilograms of marijuana.

Since charges were laid, however, the case has languished in the 
courts for years.

Public records show between 20 and 30 court appearances have been 
scheduled. Two previous trial dates have been adjourned in the case, 
including one that had to be moved because Crown prosecutors and 
police had not provided proper information to the defence, said Tousaw.

Tousaw said he regularly raised concerns about unnecessary delays in 
the case, to little avail.

The delays have caused significant hardships for his clients, said 
Tousaw. While waiting for their trial, they have had to live under 
onerous bail restrictions, have been unable to find work and have 
suffered anxiety and embarrassment.

Those problems have grown "each time it has not proceeded to trial," 
said Tousaw.

Testifying as a witness at the hearing, Moriarity described not being 
able to go camping with his father or visit his parents at Christmas, 
and how he feels socially isolated after not being allowed to have a 
cellphone or laptop computer for four years.

One girlfriend broke up with him because of the constant stress and 
an employer refused to hire him because "they Googled my name and 
found I had been arrested in North Van," he said.

Moriarity said it seems unfair when he reads that people convicted of 
violent crimes are getting off with six months' probation.

Crown counsel Peter Eccles told Challenger that while prosecutors are 
responsible for some of the delay, some is also the defence's fault.

"These cases take time. They take a great deal of time," he said.

Eccles said it's not unheard of for defence lawyers to deliberately 
slow the process down, so they can ask for charges to be tossed.

Eccles said most of the harm suffered by the accused happened early 
in the process - when police named them publicly - rather than 
because of delays in the case.

Eccles pooh-poohed Thon's claim that he has lost potential consulting 
business, noting Thon told the government he had no income at all for 
several years prior to the charges being laid.

"A 47-month delay is not a get-out-of-jail-free card," he said, 
noting prosecutors will be seeking jail time if the accused are 
convicted of trafficking.

If the case does go to trial, the accused are expected to argue their 
actions shouldn't be considered criminal because they were selling 
the marijuana to people who needed it for medical purposes and who 
had Health Canada licences to use it.

Prosecutors contend the Compassion Association was the simply a front 
for a drug trafficking business that made more than $800,000 annually 
in gross sales.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom