SPECIAL DRUG COURTS MAY EASE THE CRUNCH

A judge who let a drug dealer go free because a prosecutor was late
has highlighted the strains on the system. Much of the heavy caseload
consists of drug cases that could be hived off.

This week in B.C. Supreme Court, Justice Allen Melvin waited briefly
for a tardy prosecutor to arrive for the sentencing of 22-year-old
Shawn Edgar, convicted of trafficking a small amount of cocaine, and
then did something entirely unexpected. The court transcript records
him as saying: "... since the Crown is apparently not interested in
these proceedings an absolute discharge would be appropriate, I think."

Reaction was varied: Mr. Edgar was probably thinking this would be a
good day to buy a lottery ticket; the defence counsel, who had been
ready to argue for a conditional sentence instead of jail time, was
likely surprised to have the judge trump his bid; and most everyone
else was livid that a convicted dope dealer was now free to walk the
streets without even being burdened by a criminal record for this offence.

That was Monday, and the days between should have seen tempers cool a
little, Justice Melvin's as well as our own. What we learned in the
meantime is that there was a glitch in timing and communication: The
prosecutor, caught between two trials, had sent a message to the court
that a substitute would appear, but the message never arrived and the
substitute was late.

We can infer from the transcript that Justice Melvin was not in a mood
to be stood up and ordered the absolute discharge. Because his ruling
contravenes the Criminal Code, something Justice Melvin could hardly
be ignorant of, the only explanation is that the judge was relying on
his decision being thrown out on appeal. He wanted to make a point,
and to press it by making the Crown do some extra work.

We remain surprised, if no longer angry, at an apparent level of
courtroom dysfunction that results in a waste of already scarce
resources. But perhaps we shouldn't be. We know the courts are
constipated by similar, relatively petty drug charges and that
prosecutors and judges are overworked. Provincially, the workload and
lack of staff were the cause of a two-year dispute between Crown
prosecutors and Victoria. At its height, the prosecutors walked off
the job and 74 cases were thrown out for "want of prosecution."

One means of easing the pressure is the idea of drug courts, empowered
to order treatment and supervision. Pass the treatment course and the
charges are stayed; fail and the guilty plea results in a real
sentence. Results from a two-year-old pilot study on a drug court
operating in Toronto are encouraging. When he was attorney-general,
Premier Ujjal Dosanjh supported the idea.

Clearly we need a better process than the one we have.