16. Regina v. R.M.M. [Provincial Court of Alberta– September 2017]

R.M.M. was charged with possessing proceeds of crime contrary to Section 354 of the Criminal Code. As the Crown was seeking a period of imprisonment in the range of 18 months to 2 years R.M.M. retained Patrick Fagan to defend this prosecution.

Bottom Line: On the day before trial the Crown conceded the strength of Patrick Fagan’s challenges to the constitutionality of the investigation and the entire case was successfully terminated by way of the entry of a stay of proceedings.

Background

The police received information from a so-called reliable confidential informant that R.M.M. was trafficking in cocaine. Based on that information the police engaged in surveillance of R.M.M. for the next 2 months. During the course of that surveillance the police identified a suspected drug/stash house and the residence of R.M.M. Slowly but surely the police gathered information which led to the issuance of warrants to search the stash house, R.M.M.’s residence and one other location.

From R.M.M.’s residence the police seized approximately $15,000.00 in cash but no drugs. According to the police, R.M.M.’s residence had been recently “cleaned” and they noted a multitude of ziplock baggies indicative of drug packaging. The police, however, didn’t bother to send those baggies away for drug analysis. As for the other house (and the stash house) paraphernalia associated with drug use and drug trafficking was located by the police but no drugs were located.

In the final result, the constitutional challenges presented by Patrick Fagan in conjunction with a multitude of substantive defences resulted in the Crown acknowledging that there was no reasonable likelihood of a conviction. As stated previously, Patrick Fagan was successful in killing this prosecution in its entirety by 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..