Pubdate: Tue, 13 Jan 2015
Source: Western Star, The (CN NF)
Page: 3
Copyright: 2015 The Western Star
Contact:  http://www.thewesternstar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2523
Author: Gary Kean

JUDGE THROWS OUT DRUG CASE ON DIRECTED VERDICT

CORNER BROOK Two Quebec men who had successfully argued their Charter
rights had been violated during a traffic stop were acquitted of the
drug charges against them in the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and
Labrador in Corner Brook Monday.

Sylvain Charbonneau, 59, and Jean Dessailliers, 44, had each been
charged with four offences, namely two counts apiece of trafficking in
marijuana and cannabis resin and two counts of possessing of illegal
drugs for the purposes of trafficking.

They were charged following an RCMP traffic stop west of Corner Brook
in the fall of 2011. A subsequent search of the car they were in led
to the seizure of 26 kilograms of marijuana and a kilogram of hashish.

As previously reported by The Western Star, the two challenged the
grounds on which the police justified the traffic stop. Justice Laura
Mennie, in a decision rendered in early December, agreed and
disallowed much of the evidence the Crown had against the men. She
said their arrest and the search of the truck they were driving were
unlawful and ridiculed the way police handled the situation,
describing the Charter rights breach as extremely serious.

When the case was called in the Supreme Court in Corner Brook Monday,
Crown attorney David Mills said he would not be calling any evidence.
Defence lawyer Robby Ash then asked Justice David Hurley for a
directed verdict of not guilty.

Hurley promptly acquitted both men of all charges against them. 
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