Kerry Benzakien

The case concerns an entrapment application brought by Joshua Hill following his conviction for drug trafficking.

Hill argued that police entrapped him during a dial-a-dope investigation.

Applying the principles from R. v. Ahmad and R. v. Williams, the court assessed whether the police had reasonable suspicion before offering the opportunity to commit an offence.

The court found that the detailed information received by the undercover officer, combined with Hill's responses during the initial call, established reasonable suspicion, thereby dismissing the entrapment application.

Following conviction for drug trafficking offences, the accused brought an application for a stay of proceedings based on entrapment.

The Crown sought to rely on confidential informant information to establish that the officer had reasonable suspicion prior to offering the accused an opportunity to commit the offence, as required under Ahmad.

The Crown sought to use the Step Six procedure from Garofoli to present redacted information to the defence while allowing the court to review unredacted materials.

The court ruled that Step Six is available in the entrapment context, extending its application beyond the traditional warrant review setting.

The accused pleaded guilty to possession of a loaded prohibited firearm, unauthorized possession of a firearm, possession of a firearm in a motor vehicle, possession for the purpose of trafficking in MDMA, and four counts of breach of a prohibition order.

The offences arose from an arrest on March 5, 2013, when police executed a high-risk vehicle stop and found the accused armed with a loaded .40 calibre Glock pistol and in possession of MDMA.

The accused had an extensive criminal record dating back to 1991, including four prior firearm convictions and multiple breaches of firearms prohibition orders.

The court imposed a global sentence of 10½ years less credit for time served (8 months pre-trial custody on a 1:1 basis), resulting in a total sentence of 9 years and 10 months.