The client was pulled over by the RCMP near Salmo British Columbia while he was driving with his girlfriend as passenger. One thing led to another and the police officer deployed his K9 named “Jimmy” to perform a sniff search of the vehicle. Jimmy sat after sniffing the vehicle which indicated to the police officer that there was illegal controlled substances inside the car. The client and his girlfriend were arrested and the RCMP officer performed a more thorough search of the car’s contents. On doing so he discovered about 100 grams of soft cocaine and multiple kilograms of marihuana. The client was charged with possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and possession of cannabis for the purpose of distribution under the federal Cannabis Act. The client had a serious prior criminal record and initially the Crown indicated they were seeking a significant jail sentence if he pled guilty or was convicted. Mr. van der Walle got the case and was able to uncover that “Jimmy” the K9 had a particularly spotty record of providing false positives as many times in the past the dog had sat to indicate the presence of drugs and the police officer handler was unable to find any when he searched the vehicle on those other occasions. A Notice of Constitutional Motion was filed alleging numerous Charter breaches, one of which was the allegation that the dog was too unreliable and that therefore the RCMP officer could not have reasonable grounds to make an arrest on the basis of the sit confirmation from this unreliable dog. Thankfully, the Crown prosecutor saw the merit in Mr. van der Walle’s arguments and agreed to drop the trafficking charges in exchange for the client pleading guilty to personal use possession (sometimes referred to as simple possession) of the cocaine. The client was given a 3K fine, without any probation/house arrest nor any jail time. Not guilty of trafficking. No trial necessary.
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