6. Regina v. R.D. [Provincial Court of Alberta, Calgary – March, 2011]

Client was targeted by the police during the course of an ongoing investigation of a so-called Dial-a-Dope operation. Undercover peace officers arranged a meet by telephone to purchase cocaine and when our client arrived at the scene he was arrested, searched and found to be in possession of a quantity of cocaine – he was charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking. During our review and analysis of Crown disclosure (police reports, etc.) we identified certain subtle but potentially critical shortcomings in the undercover investigative methodology (translation: police account of events didn’t sound quite right). So. . . as a consequence of our concerns in this regard we pressed the Crown for additional disclosure. As matters turned out the Crown was either unable or unwilling to provide the additional disclosure. Bottom line: this prosecution was killed/terminated by way of the entry of a Stay of Proceedings is a legal term used to refer to a direction by a Crown prosecutor or a Judge to the Clerk of the Court to terminate a criminal prosecution. Click for more information. on the first day of trial.