Pubdate: Thu, 18 Jan 2007
Source: Chronicle Herald (CN NS)
Copyright: 2007 The Halifax Herald Limited
Contact:  http://thechronicleherald.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/180
Author: Patricia Brooks Arenburg, Staff Reporter

APPEAL TARGETS PROSECUTION METHODS

A pending Nova Scotia Court of Appeal decision could  change the way 
large-scale police investigations are  prosecuted, says a federal 
Crown attorney.

The case involves three conspiracies from one drug  investigation and 
a question of whether Brian James  Bremner's conviction for smuggling 
drugs into one jail  precludes the Crown from prosecuting him for 
trying to  bring more drugs into another prison a few weeks later.

"If Mr. Bremner is successful, it would require the  Crown to include 
many different types of conduct within  a broader type of charge, 
which could make the trials  lengthier," federal Crown attorney James 
Martin said.

"Trials are long enough as it is."

Mr. Bremner, a Spryfield drug dealer also known as B.J.  Marriott, 
was convicted of conspiring to traffic drugs  into the Burnside jail 
from June 17 to June 20, 2002,  during Operation Midway, an 
undercover police  investigation targeting local mid-level drug 
dealers  and suppliers.

He later pleaded guilty to conspiring to traffic  cocaine with 
Margaret Mary Sampson and Gary (Boo)  Michael Boudreau between May 27 
and May 31, 2002, and  conspiring to traffic hashish with Ms. Sampson 
and his  uncle Teddy Bremner during the same time into  Springhill Institution.

But he withdrew his plea after a tussle over whether  the proposed 
four-year sentence, recommended jointly by  federal Crown attorney 
Susan Bour and defence lawyer  Warren Zimmer, would be served 
concurrently or  consecutively to one for his two-year term from his 
previous Operation Midway conviction.

Justice Walter Goodfellow later agreed with his  lawyer's argument 
and threw out the charges after  ruling that Mr. Bremner's conspiracy 
conviction  included the overall conspiracy and an accused cannot  be 
convicted of both.

Mr. Martin and Ms. Bour brought the case to the Court  of Appeal 
panel Wednesday, where Mr. Martin argued, in  part, that Mr. Bremner 
couldn't have been convicted of  the second set of conspiracy charges 
with the evidence  presented at trial.

And while evidence in some conspiracy cases supports a  charge 
related to the entire operation, Mr. Martin  argued that the evidence 
in this case supports the  separate charges.

"From the Crown's perspective, you would like to have  the 
flexibility where the law allowed to keep matters,  prosecutions, as 
simple as possible," Mr. Martin said.

Mr. Zimmer said outside court Wednesday that his client  was charged 
with "the same conspiracy, just dressed up  a different way."

"Some of the people may have changed and some of the  wording may 
have changed but, in essence, it was  exactly the same conspiracy 
charge," he said.

His client, who is appealing his conviction for  possessing cocaine 
for the purpose of trafficking from  May 27 to May 30, 2002, has 
already been convicted of  the overall conspiracy, Mr. Zimmer said.
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