cannabisnews.com: Crown Attorney Stays Charges in Cases of Marijuana Crown Attorney Stays Charges in Cases of Marijuana Posted by CN Staff on June 20, 2003 at 08:12:17 PT By Jake Rupert, The Ottawa Citizen Source: Ottawa Citizen With the law against simple possession of marijuana nullified in Ontario, the federal Crown attorney's office for the area has decided to stay all prosecutions against people charged with the offence. In the last few days, copies of letters have been sent to defence lawyers representing about 40 clients charged with possession of marijuana. The letters direct the clerk of the court to stay the charges administratively, without a court appearance. Ottawa-Gatineau federal Crown attorney Eugene Williams said it is clear Ontario courts are bound by recent rulings nullifying the law, so there was no point in trying to continue prosecuting the cases."We assessed the law ... and we deemed that it wasn't in the public interest for a number of reasons to proceed with these cases," Mr. Williams said. The prohibition against possessing marijuana became void a month ago when a Windsor Superior Court judge, sitting as an appeal judge, agreed with a lower court ruling that struck down the possession law for a combination of reasons.This is a binding decision on courts, and, in the last few weeks, when faced with people charged with the offence, many judges have been simply quashing the cases because the law doesn't exist any more."We wanted a clean, non-confrontational approach to deal with this situation," Mr. Williams said.The Crown is appealing the precedent to the Ontario Court of Appeal, but this won't be heard for at least a month with the ruling to follow sometime later. And an earlier attempt by the Crown to have the precedent set aside pending the appeal failed.Ottawa is the first jurisdiction in Ontario to stay all possession cases. Others may follow suit.Technically, if the appeal court overturns the precedent and reinstates the possession law, the Crown has up to a year to restart cases against people.Because of this, the Crown's move to stay cases received less than stellar reviews from Ottawa defence lawyers yesterday."It's unfair for people to have to live with a charge outstanding against them," said defence lawyer Rob Lewis, who received eight of the letters. "These people deserve the right to be acquitted. They have a right to have the charge quashed and be found not guilty, which is what judges were doing."He was also suspicious of the motive behind the stays, fearing the federal Crown may just be trying to buy time until the appeal is heard."The section is void. The crime doesn't exist. The stay means these cases will never get before a judge to have them quashed properly."Mr. Williams said the motive behind the stays was to simply get rid of the cases and not waste court resources -- not to buy time with the idea of restarting them if the appeal court overturns the precedent.If they did that, he said, there would be several legal flaws that would almost guarantee they would be thrown out.Complete Title: Crown Attorney Stays Charges in Cases of Marijuana PossessionSource: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)Author: Jake Rupert, The Ottawa CitizenPublished: Friday, June 20, 2003Copyright: 2003 The Ottawa CitizenContact: letters thecitizen.southam.caWebsite: http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/ Related Articles & Web Site:Cannabis News Canadian Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/can.htmJudge Allows Marijuana Ruling To Standhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16592.shtmlNo Laws Ban Possession of Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16321.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Post Comment