JUSTICE IN THE FAST LANE

Pot prosecution, American style: When Canadian marijuana runners are
arrested, a 'speedy trial clock' starts ticking. Criminal trials must be
held within 70 days of indictment.

It's a quick trip from Vancouver Island across Juan de Fuca Strait, and an
even faster one through the U.S. justice system for those who get caught.

Marijuana smugglers familiar with the slow pace of justice here in Canada
must get whiplash going through the U.S. courts.

One minute they're in a boat loaded with hockey bags full of B.C. bud, the
next they're doing three years in a U.S. federal penitentiary.

Turnaround time from arrest to sentence?

Five months.

Duncan resident Michael D. Morcom learned that the hard way.

On Sept. 25, 2003, the 41-year-old was picked up in a black inflatable speed
boat heading from Mill Bay to Roche Harbour, an American resort community on
San Juan Island.

The boat was loaded with several large hockey and nylon sport bags
containing 314 vacuum-sealed plastic bags of marijuana. The bud weighed in
at about 125 kilograms, with a wholesale value of at least $850,000 US.

Less than five months later, on Feb. 13, John McKay, the U.S. district
attorney for the Western District of Washington, announced that Morcom had
been sentenced that day to 37 months in federal prison for possession of
marijuana with intent to distribute. Morcom, who declined a request for an
interview, is serving his time at a federal penitentiary in Lompoc, Calif.

McKay said that Morcom, who was paid $2,000 to smuggle the drugs across the
border, will serve the full 37 months, because the federal system has
abolished parole. Morcom can request a transfer to Canada, although that is
unlikely to happen for at least a year, if at all.

Canadian and U.S. justice officials said the speed at which Morcom's case
proceeded is typical.

While Canadian courts bend to breaking under a backlog of pending trials,
U.S. law requires their system to move at a rapid rate in order to protect
the accused's constitutional right to a speedy trial.

Assistant U.S. district attorney Janet Freeman said criminal trials must
take place within 70 days of indictment.

"So things really get moving," she said. "When you arrest someone, it starts
what we call a 'speedy trial clock.'"

The Canadian duo of Anthony Ray Johnson and Jeff Craig Bishop were arrested
Jan. 19 after a speedboat loaded with marijuana was found on the beach west
of Port Angeles. Four months later, Johnson was convicted at trial in
Tacoma, and Bishop pleaded guilty four days later.

Bob Prior, director of the federal prosecution service in B.C., said similar
cases in Canada take substantially longer because so many more people plead
not guilty and go to trial.

"It would almost never happen up here that quickly," said Prior, who
recently swapped jobs with Freeman for a month to improve co-operation
between U.S. and Canadian agencies.

Prior said the speedy trial act plays a key role, but the U.S. system also
handles far fewer trials because many more people plead guilty.

"There are very strong incentives in the U.S. to co-operate with the
police," Prior said.

"If they plead and co-operate, they fall outside the guidelines for
sentencing. So the person who might have got a minimum 10 years in jail, by
co-operating with the authorities, is no longer facing that minimum."

Defence attorneys, however, argue that such incentives create their own
problems.

"When you have people with that kind of incentive, their incentive isn't
necessarily to tell the truth, but rather to tell something that helps them
get what they want," said Seattle criminal defence attorney Stephan Illa,
who represented Johnson at trial.

"In fact, what I've seen repeatedly is that the people who are given this
kind of incentive will go out and collect information that is
extraordinarily helpful to the government but may not be true."

Illa said Canadians awaiting trial at the federal detention centre in south
Seattle have been approached by other Canadians trying to get information or
work a deal.

"Then, suddenly, those people are identified as informants, who say: 'Well,
this guy told me x, y and z about his crime.' And, in fact, it may not be
the case at all."

The suspects, however, desperately want to avoid the federal sentencing
guidelines which have much more stringent penalties than those handed out in
Canada for similar offences.

A smuggler caught with more than 100 kilograms of marijuana in the U.S., for
instance, faces a minimum sentence of five years.

"That's the starting point," Freeman said. "Five years on up to 40 years."

A person caught with 1,000 kilograms or more of marijuana faces a mandatory
minimum sentence of 10 years in prison.

"Many of the people I deal with, they just can't believe how serious and
severe the sentences are," Illa said. "The weapons available to federal
prosecutors are incredibly onerous."

By comparison, Prior said the sentences would be much lower in Canada. A
person caught with 100 kilos of marijuana in B.C. might face three years in
prison, but likely get parole after serving only a part of that.

"The real significant difference isn't so much the likely sentence that
you'd get up here," Prior said. "The difference is in the U.S. it's a
certain penalty. You will get 10 years without parole if you have 1,000
kilos of marijuana. No discussion.

"Up here, you can enter into a discussion, all kinds of mitigating factors,
and what the role of the person was becomes quite important up here. Whereas
down there, they don't really seem to care as much."

There is also no parole in the United States under federal sentencing
guidelines, so that what you get is what you serve. Canadian prisoners can
apply for a transfer to Canada, but there is no guarantee that they will get
the transfer, Prior said.

"It has to be agreed to by both the Americans and Canadians," he said. "Some
people get transferred and some don't depending on the circumstances of
their offence. A person should never assume that simply because I'm a
Canadian I'm going to get to come home.

"What happens when a person transfers back up, the Canadian parole rules
kick in, and the Americans know that, and may not want to return a person
because of that."

Illa and Prior said Canadians generally end up serving one to two years in
the U.S. system before getting a transfer to Canada.

"Even if you do get back, you're in a federal penitentiary for a while,"
Prior said.