R. v. L.D. [Provincial Court, Calgary, October 2016]

The police received a phone call from an anonymous caller about a woman high on heroin driving a stolen vehicle and following another stolen vehicle. The police tracked the woman to a pizza parlour where she was seen standing in her underwear eating pizza with a male. The male (L.D.) allegedly had three throwing knives visible on his belt and was arrested for possession of a weapon for a purpose dangerous to the public peace. He was searched incident to arrest and the police found what they believed to be counterfeit currency. A vehicle parked in the lot in front of the pizza parlour was determined to belong the L.D. and was searched by police. Police located a loaded sawed off revolver, and a number of items that the police believed to be stolen. L.D. was charged with 13 charges including 5 very serious firearm offences; possession of counterfeit currency (punishable by up to 14 years in prison); and a number of possession of stolen property charges. The Crown’s pre-trial resolution position was 2 years of federal incarceration. L.D. wisely instructed Ms. Fagan to proceed to trial. The trial was scheduled for 4 days. Ms. Fagan filed a Charter notice alleging multiple breaches of L.D.’s rights, including his right not to be arbitrarily detained, his right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure. After four days of a hard fought trial Ms. Fagan had done sufficient damage to the Crown’s case that the Crown made L.D. an offer he could not refuse. A fine of $500.00 was imposed for possession of the knives and all remaining charges were withdrawn. L.D. did not have to spend a single day in jail after trial… a far cry from the initial 2 year pre-trial sentence that L.D. would have faced.