Gary Kean, Corner Brook, NFLD (Western Star) – A provincial court judge has denied a request by the Crown attorney for another adjournment to a drug trafficking case, effectively dismissing the charges against the man accused of the offences.
Mark Charles Joyce was charged with conspiracy to traffic in marijuana, possession of marijuana for the purposes of trafficking and with trafficking marijuana last September.
In November, Joyce pleaded not guilty and the matter was set to go to trial Feb. 7. Four days before the trial was to start, Crown attorney Andrew May asked if the trial could be postponed because the prosecution had yet to obtain a certificate of analyst that would have confirmed the substances seized during the investigation was indeed marijuana.
The trial was rescheduled for April 27 and Judge Wayne Gorman advised May to indicate to the court no later than April 1 if there were any further delays anticipated so the two days set aside for the trial could be used to schedule other matters before the courts.
On April 21, May wrote the court, asking for another adjournment because the certificate of analyst still had been obtained. May indicated to the court that the RCMP drug section in Corner Brook was investigating the delay.
May also indicated that a number of Crown witnesses had not been subpoenaed for the two-day trial that was scheduled.
At a subsequent hearing to deal with the request for an adjournment, May indicated the police failed “to follow through” or “coordinate their efforts.” He referred to the police having made a “negligent mistake.”
He was not aware of why the Crown’s witnesses were not subpoenaed, but made reference to “problems in RCMP administration.”
Prior to making his decision on the adjournment on Thursday, Gorman heard from the RCMP’s lead investigator in this particular case. The officer testified that the seized marijuana was not sent to the RCMP forensic lab for analysis until this past Tuesday and the certificate the prosecution was waiting for would be issued within a couple of days of the lab receiving the alleged marijuana.
The officer was not asked why the exhibits were sent to the lab at such a late date or why none of the Crown’s witnesses had been subpoenaed.
Joyce’s lawyer, Jim Goudie, objected to the request for a postponement, telling the court the delay was causing his client hardship. In addition, the certificate the Crown was waiting for was not the only option it had regarding proof of the nature of the alleged marijuana.
Acknowledging the charges against Joyce were serious and that refusing the Crown’s request for an adjournment would result in the dismissal of all the charges, Gorman said those factors cannot trump certain other considerations.
The judge denied the application for an adjournment, citing “the lack of diligence exercised by both the Crown and police in this matter” as one of the factors for doing so.
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