ADDICTS' CHARGES LEAD TO JAIL TIME

This is part four of a six-part series on Sudbury's illegal drug
culture. Today, Sudbury Star reporter Kennedy Gordon follows the trial
of a cocaine addict.

She sits in the prisoners' box, back straight, eyes on the judge. It's
a quiet morning in the Ontario Court of Justice in Sudbury, with just
a few cases passing before Justice William Fitzgerald, and she's the
last one.

She is a cocaine addict.

Lise Lepine is currently a resident of the Sudbury Jail, though she's
not wearing jailhouse scrubs today; she's dressed in pants and a black
leather jacket, and wearing makeup. Lepine, 41, was charged with two
counts of possession of cocaine in mid-April. Today, she's pleading
guilty.

She does not flinch as federal prosecutor Joe Fragomeni tells the
judge what she's done.

Didn't report to court

Lepine was arrested last October and charged with drug-related
offences. She received bail and walked out of the jail soon after, but
didn't report in as required by the conditions of her recognizance.
She was charged with breaching her bail, and a warrant for her arrest
was issued.

On April 18, a Greater Sudbury Police patrol recognized Lepine in the
passenger seat of a car, and stopped the vehicle to arrest her. The
arresting officer knew Lepine, knew there was a warrant for her
arrest, and knew she was a drug user.

When she got out of the car, officers found cocaine where she'd been
sitting. They searched the vehicle and turned up 3.5 grams of coke.

And Lepine ended up back in jail, this time with bail completely out
of reach.

Fragomeni, who's been telling untold variations of this tale for
years, outlines the facts in clear detail.

Then, it's defence counsel Glenn Sandberg's turn to have his
say.

Sandberg, a gifted orator and strong advocate for his clients, weaves
a tale of a middle-aged woman battling a long and troubling addiction.

'It's a disease'

"It's a disease, a war she must fight every day," Sandberg says. "The
best that she can hope for is an eventual truce."

Sandberg has just come from a case in Superior Court, so he's still
wearing his sweeping black robes. The effect is almost cinematic as he
raises an arm, expounding on the perils of addiction.

"The person can stop using the drug," he says, "but the drug never
stops using the person."

It's typical at this stage of proceedings, after an accused has
entered a guilty plea, for defence counsel to give the sentencing
judge an impression of the guilty party that draws attention away from
the crime itself and points out the person's better qualities.

Today, Sandberg tells Fitzgerald about Lepine's struggle to raise her
two sons, aged 21 and 11, alone. They're from different fathers.

"She has managed to instill in them the knowledge that drugs lead to
more difficulty," Sandberg says.

"Perhaps, by using herself as an example, she has been successful in
keeping her children from following her path."

Lepine knows she has a problem, and knows she's on a downward spiral,
Sandberg says. She wants to get treatment, and has in the past, but is
willing to pay the price for her recent transgressions.

Sandberg says it's obvious Lepine has to go to jail. But he asks for a
touch of compassion, saying the nature of addiction-driven crime
should be considered in sentencing.

"This crime was born of an illness, and while that doesn't excuse it,
it does help us understand it," he says.

So he asks Fitzgerald to give Lepine a 45-day sentence.

The stone-faced judge turns his attention to Fragomeni. It's now the
prosecutor's turn to make his sentencing request.

He says Lepine was already on bail for one drug offence when she
re-offended, calling it "a flagrant breach" of the law - something
that must be punished.

Fragomeni prosecutes drug charges for a living, and doesn't like to
see guilty parties walk away with lenient sentences.

One word he's used in the past to describe drug dealers and users is
"scourge."

Today, he counters Sandberg's comments about Lepine's efforts to use
herself as an example to keep her kids off drugs.

Lepine, Fragomeni continues, seems to have made a career out of
feeding her addiction.

Maybe treatment would help her, Fragomeni says, but she's going to
have to make a decision and stick to it ... to get help, stay off
drugs and set the best kind of example for her kids - one that doesn't
involve getting high."

Fragomeni says Lepine deserves 90 days in jail - 45 days per
charge.

Fitzgerald turns to Lepine and asks her if she has anything to say.
She stands up, her posture straight, her voice clear and strong.

"I do plan on going to treatment as soon as I get out," she says
firmly.

Fitzgerald nods. She sits down. He turns to the lawyers and tells
Sandberg he listened to what he had to say, and accepts much of his
submission.

But in the end, he says, he agrees with Fragomeni that Lepine should
spend the next three months in jail.

Fragomeni gathers his papers and strides out of the courtroom.
Sandberg is close behind, his robes flowing like a cape.

The two lawyers, frequent adversaries, are off to other cases, other
charges.

It's the start of a busy week in the Sudbury courts, a week that will
see many drug-related offences listed on court dockets as drug addicts
and drug dealers move through the system.

- -- Tomorrow: Special prosecutors are brought in to prosecute drug-related
charges.