The Crown applied for an advance ruling to qualify a police detective as an expert witness in cocaine use, pricing, sale, distribution, and modus operandi for a jury trial involving drug trafficking and other charges.
The defense opposed the application or sought to curtail the evidence.
The court partially granted the application, allowing the expert to provide general information about cocaine and drug trafficking indicators (e.g., money, debt lists) but disallowed specific interpretations of text messages and an ultimate opinion on whether the seized cocaine was for trafficking, finding these unnecessary and too close to the ultimate issue for the jury.
