R v. ETT [Court of King’s Bench of Alberta, Edmonton – February 2023]

SUMMARY: ETT was the target of an RCMP undercover operation conducted in Grande Prairie, Alberta called Project Incumbent. According to the police, ETT engaged in a hand-to-hand sale of a street quantity of cocaine to an undercover officer. As a consequence, ETT was arrested and charged with trafficking in cocaine contrary to Section 5(1) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. 

ETT was on the verge of entering a plea of guilty as charged when he decided to seek a second opinion from a new lawyer — that lawyer was Patrick Fagan. Mr. Fagan reviewed the case and in so doing identified a potential defence of “entrapment”. While the odds of success were still remote (hand to hand drug transactions are exceedingly difficult to defend) ETT decided not to plead guilty, hired Mr. Fagan and the matter was scheduled for trial.

BOTTOM LINE: A couple months prior to commencement of trial proceedings Patrick Fagan was successful in having all charges against ETT completely withdrawn.