Court File and Parties
CITATION: R. v. Paldus, 2007 ONCA 632
DATE: 20070917
DOCKET: C47164
COURT OF APPEAL FOR ONTARIO
SIMMONS, ARMSTRONG AND LANG JJ.A.
BETWEEN:
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN
Respondent
And
STEVEN PALDUS
Appellant
Counsel:
David Russell for the appellant
Faiyaz Alibhai for the respondent
Heard and endorsed: September 11, 2007
On appeal from the sentence imposed by Justice John D.D. Evans of the Ontario Court of Justice dated March 8, 2007.
APPEAL BOOK ENDORSEMENT
[1] The appellant was convicted of production of marijuana and sentenced to eighteen months imprisonment. The appellant submits that the trial judge erred by giving him little or no credit for his guilty plea and by imposing a sentence that constituted a marked departure from similar sentences imposed for similar offences and similar offenders.
[2] We agree. Although the appellant was found in possession of approximately 100 marijuana plants, he maintained that he was a daily user and that the drugs were for his personal use. The trial judge made no finding to the contrary. Moreover, the appellant's operation did not involve theft of electricity or any other indicia of a commercial grow operation. In our view, the circumstances of this offence lack the aggravating features present in other cases where sentences in the 18-24 month range identified by the Crown and adopted by the trial judge have been imposed. Further, although the appellant has a prior criminal record, he had only one prior conviction for a drug offence and the conviction was for possession.
[3] In addition, in our view, the trial judge erred in concluding that the appellant's plea of guilty made on the eve on the preliminary inquiry was made at the 11th hour and was therefore entitled to only minimal weight.
[4] In our opinion taking account of the appellant's record and the circumstances of this offence, the appropriate sentence is twelve months imprisonment. Accordingly, leave to appeal is granted, the appeal is allowed and the sentence imposed is varied to twelve months imprisonment.