R. v. N.R. [Provincial Court of Alberta, Calgary, October 2018]

N.R. was facing almost 30 charges stemming from multiple seperate investigations, in three different jurisdictions. In one rural Alberta town he was alleged to have driven by a police officer going double the speed limit and a police chase ensued. They ultimately traced N.R. to a residence which the police entered and searched finding a loaded handgun and cocaine. N.R. was charged with a number of firearm offences and possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. He was released on bail. Some months later in a different rural Alberta town, he was alleged to have nearly run over a police officer conducting radar and another police chase ensued. N.R. crashed his car and then ran into a field to escape capture by the police. He was ultimately apprehended and charged with impaired driving, flight from police and breach of his bail conditions. Again, he was released on bail. Next, N.R. was charged in a complex robbery and counterfeit currency investigation. Among the charges were pointing a firearm (s. 87(1) of the Criminal Code); possession of break-in instruments (s. 351(2) of the Criminal Code); robbery (s. 344 of the Criminal Code which carries a mandatory minimum punishment of 4 years in jail); fraud (s. 380 of the Criminal Code) and various charges relating to counterfeit currency. He retained Ms. Fagan for, among other things, the conduct of his bail hearing. Clearly this was an uphill battle. It was made worse by the fact that N.R. had a criminal record and was charged with multiple counts of breaching his existing bail conditions. A bail hearing was scheduled and run by Ms. Fagan.

BOTTOM LINE: Notwithstanding the enormous odds against them, Ms. Fagan was able to secure her client’s release on bail (again).