Pubdate: Thu, 25 Oct 2007
Source: Edmonton Sun (CN AB)
Copyright: 2007 Canoe Limited Partnership.
Contact:  http://www.edmontonsun.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/135
Author: TONY BLAIS, COURT BUREAU
Note: The name of the accused has been removed by the MAP Editor to 
protect the identity.

COP'S EVIDENCE 'FALSE AT WORSE'

Judge Throws Out Charges Against Accused Drug Dealer

An accused drug dealer had his charges tossed after a  judge accepted 
his evidence over that of a city police  officer, who was criticized 
for his inconsistent  testimony.

"The constable's evidence proved inaccurate at best and  completely 
false at worst," said Court of Queen's Bench  Justice Eric Macklin in 
the case of [name redacted],  20.

The judge dismissed the 2005 charges at the Crown's  request 
following an Oct. 9 ruling that police had  conducted an "abusive, 
unlawful and unreasonable"  search.

[name redacted] had been charged with possession of  methamphetamine 
for the purpose of trafficking and  possession of stolen property 
after police pulled him  over for an improper lane change and 
eventually found  14 grams of speed.

Const. Christopher Tagg testified he asked [name redacted] 
for  identification, but received none, and said he was also  not 
given either vehicle registration or insurance.

However, under cross examination, Tagg was shown a  no-insurance 
ticket he had issued on which he had  written he had been provided 
with a handwritten  insurance tag.

He was also shown a ticket issued to [name redacted] by his  partner 
for having no driver's licence on which it was  written an interim 
operator's licence had been  provided.

[name redacted] testified he had handed over his identification  and 
vehicle papers and also said the drugs weren't  found until a third 
search by Tagg after the officer  had said he knew he had drugs and 
was going to find  them.

"There are obvious inconsistencies between the evidence  of the 
accused and that of Tagg and there were  obviously inherent 
inconsistencies in the evidence of  Tagg himself," said Macklin. "I 
believe the evidence of  (name redacted)."

Defence lawyer Akram Attia called it "very  disconcerting" and said 
in cases where the accused does  not have corroborating evidence, the 
police are  believed.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart