12. Regina v. C.M.S. [Provincial Court – June 2015]

The RCMP observed CMS operating a motor vehicle eastbound on highway #1.  According to the police, they stopped CMS because his license plate was obscured by road dirt.  TRANSLATION: This was a pipeline/interdiction “profiling” drug stop.  Of course the police don’t bother to tell CMS that he is the subject of a pipeline drug stop.  Rather, they proceed to engage him in a scripted Q & A designed to lay the foundation for a reasonable suspicion vis a vis the transportation of drugs so they could deploy the police service dog.

Well . . . as it turned out, the police just happen to have a police service dog in their marked cruiser and when they deployed the dog it hit on CMS’s vehicle.  Police ultimately seized approximately 1 pound of cannabis marijuana.  While hardly a sufficient amount in itself to give rise to an inference of possession for the purpose of trafficking text messages consistent with trafficking (according to the police) on the cellular phone of CMS certainly did.  The police charged CMS with possession of cannabis marijuana for the purpose of trafficking.

Bottom Line: Through negotiation with the Crown Patrick Fagan was successful in resolving this most unfortunate prosecution by way of a guilty plea to the much lesser offence of simple possession of cannabis marijuana and a fine.