23. Regina v. S.S. [Provincial Court of Alberta, Calgary – October 2012]

Police conducted a so-called routine traffic stop on a vehicle operated by our client. As a consequence of that stop the police observed an open bottle of alcohol in the vehicle so they conducted a liquor search. As a consequence of that search they seized in excess of one ounce of crack cocaine and scales. Our client was charged with possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and three relatively minor traffic offences. An election of trial in Queen’s Bench was entered and a date scheduled for preliminary inquiry. During the course of our cross-examination of the very first Crown witness called at the preliminary inquiry it became abundantly evident that there were significant problems with the case for the prosecution. As a consequence of those problems the entire matter was resolved by way of a guilty plea of simple possession of cocaine (all traffic related charges were completely withdrawn) and a $1,500.00 fine.