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Pot Crusader One Step Closer To Extradition
Pubdate: Wed, 24 May 2006
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2006, The Globe and Mail Company
Contact: http://www.globeandmail.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Shannon Kari
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Marc+Emery (Marc Emery)
POT CRUSADER ONE STEP CLOSER TO EXTRADITION
VANCOUVER -- A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has ruled in
favour of the federal government and removed a potential impediment
to the extradition of Marc Emery and his two co-defendants.
Mr. Justice Robert Crawford dismissed a motion that would have
prohibited federal prosecutors from taking control of a conspiracy
charge filed privately against Mr. Emery, Michelle Rainey and Greg Williams.
The private charge was filed last August in Provincial Court in
Nelson, by Patrick Roberts, chairman of the nationalist Bloc British
Columbia party.
The federal Department of Justice tried to dismiss the charge earlier
this year. But Mr. Roberts filed a legal motion that argued a
Criminal Code offence, such as conspiracy to violate the laws of
another country, may only be prosecuted by provincial Crowns.
Judge Crawford heard legal arguments last month about whether
provincial or federal prosecutors had jurisdiction to prosecute the
private charge. The province did not take part in the hearing and
indicated it had no position on the legal issue.
In an oral ruling, read out in court in New Westminster last Friday,
on the eve of the long weekend, Judge Crawford sided with the
arguments put forward by the federal government. The judge found that
since the alleged conspiracy is
drug-related, the prosecution is within the jurisdiction of the
federal Justice Department.
"This is exactly the decision the United States government would
want," Mr. Roberts said yesterday. He indicated that he intends to
file an appeal of the ruling later this week with the B.C. Court of
Appeal. "It seems quite clear that it gives the United States
government, through the agency of the federal Minister of Justice,
approval to interfere in the administration of justice in B.C."
Mr. Emery and his co-defendants were initially arrested last July at
the request of the U.S. government. They have been charged with using
the Internet to illegally distribute marijuana seeds in the U.S. and
conspiracy to engage in money laundering. The charges carry a maximum
penalty of life in prison if the defendants are extradited to stand
trial in the U.S. and ultimately convicted.
The alleged activities by Mr. Emery are illegal in Canada, and he
should have been charged in this country by the federal Crown instead
of it co-operating with his extradition to the U.S., suggested Mr.
Roberts. "They can't argue there wasn't evidence," he said.
A spokeswoman for the Justice Department in Vancouver declined comment.
Mr. Emery and his co-defendants are free on bail and are scheduled to
appear in court on May 31 to set a date for their extradition hearing.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman