R v. JAS: [Court of Justice, Calgary – January, 2025]

SUMMARY: This was a major drug case involving the seizure of approximately 43 kilograms of methamphetamine with an estimated wholesale value in excess of $200,000.00. JAS was charged with possession of methamphetamine for the purpose of trafficking. If convicted, the Crown was seeking a period of imprisonment in the range of 8 – 10 years.  

To make a long investigative story short, the police were able to link JAS to a  U-Haul cargo trailer that contained the 43 bricks of methamphetamine. The police confimrmed that JAS had rented the U-Haul, and had inadvertently parked it in a no-parking area which caused a concerned resident to call the police. The police thereafter orchestrated a bogus return of the U -Haul to  JAS and when he showed up to retrieve it, he was arrested for trafficking. A  search of JAS revealed the presence of a master lock key that fit the lock cut from the U-Haul trailer. Succinctly put…it was not looking good for JAS.  

Bottom Line: Patrick Fagan managed to successfully terminate this serious drug prosecution in its entirety by establishing that JAS’s right to be tried within a reasonable period of time as guaranteed by Section 11( b) of the  Charter had been violated per R v. Jordan, 2016 SCC 27.