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  Conspiracy Charge Against Emery Heads To Top Court
Posted by CN Staff on April 24, 2006 at 07:43:09 PT
By Shannon Kari 
Source: Globe and Mail 

seed Vancouver -- The federal government will be asking a British Columbia Supreme Court judge today to remove a potential obstacle in its attempt to extradite Marc Emery, the so-called Prince of Pot, and his two co-defendants to the United States to stand trial on marijuana-trafficking charges.

Mr. Emery, Michelle Rainey and Greg Williams are facing a possible private charge under the Criminal Code of conspiracy to violate foreign laws. A private information asking for the charge to be laid was sworn in Provincial Court last August by Patrick Roberts, chairman of the nationalist Bloc British Columbia party.

Criminal Code offences are normally within the jurisdiction of the provincial Crown to prosecute. Federal prosecutors have jurisdiction over a narrower range of offences, including violations of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

The federal Justice Department is arguing that it has the right to take control of the conspiracy charge because it is marijuana-related.

Don Skogstad, a lawyer representing Mr. Roberts, has responded with a legal motion asking the court to prohibit the federal Crown from becoming involved in the case. The B.C. Ministry of the Attorney-General has indicated that it will not intervene in the hearing today in Nelson to determine who has jurisdiction to prosecute the conspiracy charge.

If the private prosecution is allowed to go ahead and the three defendants are convicted, it is unlikely they could be extradited to the United States. Any sentence imposed in Canada would likely be much shorter than a marijuana-trafficking conviction in the United States.

Mr. Roberts said he is pursuing the private prosecution "because I believe they are guilty. But I think Canadians, should be accountable only to Canada, for their conduct on Canadian soil." He noted that Mr. Emery's selling of marijuana seeds over the Internet is a violation of Canadian law, yet he was never arrested until there was a request by the U.S. government. Since his extradition proceeding began, the RCMP charged a number of people in Montreal with selling marijuana seeds on-line.

Mr. Roberts, 58, a pilot and MBA graduate, was convicted in 1988 of marijuana smuggling. Similar charges were thrown out in 2004, because of unreasonable delay by federal prosecutors.

In dismissing the charges, a B.C. Supreme Court judge noted that a Justice Department prosecutor had "some involvement, directly or indirectly," in advising U.S. authorities that Mr. Roberts was in Holland during a trip to attend a university reunion in Ireland. Mr. Roberts was arrested and spent more than four months in jail in the Netherlands because of an extradition request by the United States, which was later withdrawn.

"I have been in Marc Emery's position," Mr. Roberts said. "This is a matter of sovereignty."

The federal government quashed a previous private charge laid by a Vancouver businessman last year after Mr. Emery and his co-defendants were arrested at the request of the U.S. government. The charge alleged violations of drug laws rather than a breach of the conspiracy provisions in the Criminal Code.

The Justice Department also attempted in January to have the private prosecution of Mr. Roberts thrown out. Robert Prior, director of the federal prosecution service in B.C., wrote the Provincial Court registry in Nelson and directed it to "enter a stay of proceedings."

The registry declined to issue the stay, Mr. Skogstad said, until a court determines if the province or the federal government has jurisdiction over any conspiracy prosecution.

"Everything we are doing is within the Criminal Code," Mr. Skogstad said. "This is not a matter of violating provisions of the CDSA."

Mr. Skogstad said he was informed by the Justice Department that it wants the public excluded from the hearing today. A Justice Department spokeswoman said it would not be making any comment.

Mr. Emery and his co-defendants are scheduled to make a court appearance next month in Vancouver in B.C. Supreme Court to set a date for their extradition hearing.

Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Author: Shannon Kari
Published: April 24, 2006
Copyright: 2006 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact: letters@globeandmail.ca
Website: http://www.globeandmail.ca/

Related Articles:

WP Chat Transcript: Marc Emery
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21676.shtml

CBS: 60 Minutes Prince of Pot ~ Transcript
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21645.shtml

Prince of Pot Fights Extradition on Drug Charges
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21224.shtml


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Comment #3 posted by Hope on April 25, 2006 at 20:32:27 PT
The Hearing...
Anyone know how it went?

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #2 posted by Hope on April 25, 2006 at 07:22:13 PT
Patrick Roberts...really wierd goings on...
Dang...so many people and two governments throwing so many charges and threats around at so many people. This accusation meant to protect somehow and that accusation meant to condemn.

It's hard to tell what's really going on...besides the fact that some people are in danger of being thrown to our hideously dangerous drug watchdogs who are a part of the prison industrial complex. They're the one's who feed the human meat into the machine. Marc Emery and friends aren't some kind of killer cartel group. Our hideous watchdogs prefer not to mess with those big killer cartel guys. They are dangerous. Marc and Co. are easy soft targets for them.

True spirital bastards on every hand.

God help us.

The killer watchdogs and the killer cartels are just killers. Marc and Co. are not.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #1 posted by ekim on April 24, 2006 at 20:12:18 PT
Please good people of Canada--speak up
you have a great country, very smart and compassionate you are. live what you are show your own how to stand and tell the truth. protect the least among you-- for those could be the greatest.

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