JUDGE DELAYS DRUG TRIAL

Jury Sent Home For Weekend

The case of a man accused of running a drug ring from prison skidded to a
halt Friday, just as the judge was set to continue instructing the jury.

"We've hit a snag," Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Gerald Moir told the
jurors.

He could not explain the issue, except to say that he had a decision to
make that could take so long, he could be forced to sequester them over the
weekend. Instead, he decided to send the jurors home and adjourned the
proceedings until Monday.

Justice Moir is hearing the case of Brian James Bremner, also known as B.J.
Marriott.

The 22-year-old Halifax man is accused of conspiring to traffic hashish and
possession of the drug for the purpose of trafficking in June 2002.

He was charged as part of an undercover investigation.

The Crown has alleged that Bruce Jackson, a paid informant, was the manager
of a Spryfield crack shop supplied by Mr. Bremner and his associates.

The key Crown witness, Mr. Jackson testified that Mr. Bremner directed him
during a jailhouse visit to help smuggle drugs into the Central Nova Scotia
Correctional Facility in Dartmouth.

The informant said he brought hashish and crack for the packages, and
another man brought marijuana. The drugs were placed in three packages, to
take into the prison for Mr. Bremner, jurors heard.

But Justice Moir instructed the jury to "approach Mr. Jackson's testimony
with great caution."

"Mr. Jackson was a longtime player in the drug world," the judge said.

"His evidence was purchased - no doubt it was purchased for good reason."

But, he added, Mr. Jackson "had a strong motive to deliver convicting
information."

Justice Moir pointed to contradictory statements about how Mr. Jackson
obtained the crack and whether he actually saw the crack go into the packages.

Mr. Jackson later said he helped prepare two of the packages but was at the
store when the third was completed and assumed it contained the crack.

Federal Crown Susan Bour told jurors Thursday that the crack issues "are of
little of no importance," as Mr. Bremner's charges involve only hashish.

"It's basically, in our submission, a red herring," she said in her summation.

But on Friday, Justice Moir called the issue a "serious matter" that
"became important to Mr. Jackson's credibility upon direct."

Ms. Bour also presented jurors with recordings of phone calls between Mr.
Jackson and Mr. Bremner, video surveillance tapes of events in Mr.
Jackson's home and police testimony to corroborate some of Mr. Jackson's
statements.

Justice Moir said the informant was under the direction of the police, and
the "recordings confirmed a good part of the events" between June 18 and
June 19.

But he added that "none of this confirms evidence of the initial request
(or) the prison visit" during which Mr. Jackson alleged Mr. Bremner
requested the drugs.

Jurors will have to decide whether they believe all, part or none of Mr.
Jackson's testimony, Justice Moir said.

Jurors are scheduled to return to Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Halifax on
Monday morning to resume their instruction.