PLEA RECANTED IN DRUG CASE

An accused crack dealer threw the justice system a curveball Tuesday
when he told a Windsor court he didn't commit the crimes to which he
has already pleaded guilty.

Quenice L. Powell, 30, was arrested during a drug raid on an Erie
Street West apartment in March 2006. In the apartment, police found
cocaine, crack cocaine, crystal meth, ecstasy and more than $6,000 in
Canadian and U.S. cash. Powell was on bail at the time in relation to
firing a gun outside a downtown nightclub and had been ordered by
judge to stay out of Windsor.

In a plea bargain that saw most of the charges against him dropped,
Powell pleaded guilty in February to possession of crack cocaine for
the purpose of trafficking and resisting arrest.

At the time of his plea, Superior Court Justice Steven Rogin ordered
that Powell be interviewed by a probation officer for a written report
that would be considered at his sentencing hearing. In the interview,
Powell recanted his guilty plea, telling the probation officer the
drugs in the apartment were not his and he did not resist arrest. He
said he was simply "in the wrong place at the wrong time," court heard.

"Is the pre-sentence report accurate?" Rogin asked defence lawyer
Linda McCurdy Tuesday when the sentencing hearing began. When McCurdy
answered "Yes," Rogin said, "Well, then, we strike the plea.... He'll
have to take his chances at trial."

Powell, who had made a deal in which the Crown would seek only two
years in jail, will now have all 10 charges against him reinstated. He
is charged with four counts of possession of various narcotics for the
purpose of trafficking, resisting arrest, four breaches of a court
order and possession of currency in excess of $5,000 obtained through
crime. At the time of the plea bargain, charges against co-accused
Cheryl Doherty, 23, were dropped.

Federal prosecutor Ed Posliff said the charges against Doherty cannot
be reinstated.

"I feel the Crown's been played in this instance," Posliff told the
court.

"I can't fault you for feeling that way," Rogin said.

Posliff said Powell had a lawyer representing him and was not coerced
into entering a guilty plea. Posliff called the man's recanting of his
plea "a case of buyer's remorse.

"This is someone who has been before the court before. He appreciates
the nature of the system."

Powell will be back in court Friday, when a trial date will be set. He
remains free on bail.

Powell was sentenced last year to 18 months in jail for firing a
handgun outside the Box Office sports bar on Pelissier Street in July
2005.

In what was described by the sentencing judge as "an absolute act of
irresponsibility and foolishness," an intoxicated Powell fired several
shots in the air after being thrown out of the bar. He was released
from jail after serving only a portion of his sentence.