Ronald Turgeon

Michael Francis pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and simple possession of oxycodone.

Police found significant quantities of both drugs at his home, along with cash and other items.

Francis, who was addicted to oxycodone, claimed he was a "stash house" under duress and not involved in sales.

The Crown sought nine months imprisonment, while the defence argued Francis had already served the equivalent of nine months due to stringent bail conditions (rural curfew without a license) and his significant rehabilitation efforts.

The court considered sentencing principles, aggravating factors (quantity, stash house), and mitigating factors (guilty plea, first offender, addiction-driven, duress, successful rehabilitation, and restrictive bail conditions).

The judge granted a four-month credit for the bail conditions, resulting in a sentence of five months imprisonment for cocaine trafficking and one month concurrent for oxycodone possession, followed by six months probation, along with ancillary orders.

The applicant brought a pre-trial Charter application seeking to exclude evidence obtained during a smuggling investigation on the St. Lawrence River.

Police officers detained the applicant on a dock but failed to inform him of the reasons for his detention before arresting him for obstruction when he attempted to walk away.

The court found the detention was arbitrary and the subsequent arrest unlawful, violating sections 9 and 10(a) of the Charter.

Consequently, the search incident to arrest violated section 8, and the ID, currency, and fingerprints seized from the applicant were excluded under section 24(2).

However, the court found no section 8 violation regarding the search of a nearby boat that yielded marijuana, as the applicant had no reasonable expectation of privacy in the vessel.