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Conspiracy Charge Against Emery Heads to Top Court
Shannon Kari | The Globe and Mail | 04/24/06

VANCOUVER -- The federal government will be asking a British Columbia Supreme Court judge today to remove a potential obstacle in its attempt to extradite Marc Emery, the so-called Prince of Pot, and his two co-defendants to the United States to stand trial on marijuana-trafficking charges.

Mr. Emery, Michelle Rainey and Greg Williams are facing a possible private charge under the Criminal Code of conspiracy to violate foreign laws. A private information asking for the charge to be laid was sworn in Provincial Court last August by Patrick Roberts, chairman of the nationalist Bloc British Columbia party.

Criminal Code offences are normally within the jurisdiction of the provincial Crown to prosecute. Federal prosecutors have jurisdiction over a narrower range of offences, including violations of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

The federal Justice Department is arguing that it has the right to take control of the conspiracy charge because it is marijuana-related.

Don Skogstad, a lawyer representing Mr. Roberts, has responded with a legal motion asking the court to prohibit the federal Crown from becoming involved in the case. The B.C. Ministry of the Attorney-General has indicated that it will not intervene in the hearing today in Nelson to determine who has jurisdiction to prosecute the conspiracy charge.

If the private prosecution is allowed to go ahead and the three defendants are convicted, it is unlikely they could be extradited to the United States. Any sentence imposed in Canada would likely be much shorter than a marijuana-trafficking conviction in the United States.

Mr. Roberts said he is pursuing the private prosecution "because I believe they are guilty. But I think Canadians, should be accountable only to Canada, for their conduct on Canadian soil." He noted that Mr. Emery's selling of marijuana seeds over the Internet is a violation of Canadian law, yet he was never arrested until there was a request by the U.S. government. Since his extradition proceeding began, the RCMP charged a number of people in Montreal with selling marijuana seeds on-line.

Mr. Roberts, 58, a pilot and MBA graduate, was convicted in 1988 of marijuana smuggling. Similar charges were thrown out in 2004, because of unreasonable delay by federal prosecutors.

In dismissing the charges, a B.C. Supreme Court judge noted that a Justice Department prosecutor had "some involvement, directly or indirectly," in advising U.S. authorities that Mr. Roberts was in Holland during a trip to attend a university reunion in Ireland. Mr. Roberts was arrested and spent more than four months in jail in the Netherlands because of an extradition request by the United States, which was later withdrawn.

"I have been in Marc Emery's position," Mr. Roberts said. "This is a matter of sovereignty."

The federal government quashed a previous private charge laid by a Vancouver businessman last year after Mr. Emery and his co-defendants were arrested at the request of the U.S. government. The charge alleged violations of drug laws rather than a breach of the conspiracy provisions in the Criminal Code.

The Justice Department also attempted in January to have the private prosecution of Mr. Roberts thrown out. Robert Prior, director of the federal prosecution service in B.C., wrote the Provincial Court registry in Nelson and directed it to "enter a stay of proceedings."

The registry declined to issue the stay, Mr. Skogstad said, until a court determines if the province or the federal government has jurisdiction over any conspiracy prosecution.

"Everything we are doing is within the Criminal Code," Mr. Skogstad said. "This is not a matter of violating provisions of the CDSA."

Mr. Skogstad said he was informed by the Justice Department that it wants the public excluded from the hearing today. A Justice Department spokeswoman said it would not be making any comment.

Mr. Emery and his co-defendants are scheduled to make a court appearance next month in Vancouver in B.C. Supreme Court to set a date for their extradition hearing.

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Little Nicky

Emery needs to make his stand in Canada. Once he gets in America its lights out Mark....bye bye down the rabbit hole for you Mr. Emery.

troublemaker_42

Maybe thats something he should have taken into consideration when he chose to break U.S. law by shipping seeds internationally. Had he kept his business confined to Cnadadian soil, the argument he should have been prosecuted by Canadian law would hold some weight. However, once he began shipping to the the US, he opned himself up to prosecution there. Under current law, Emery is no different than a Mexican or Columbian cartel that ships cocaine to the US. If they are caught, they are not prosecuted in their native countries, for they broke US law by shipping contraband across our boarders. Does the law suck? Is it fair? Noone of those questions MATTER....Emery knew current US law when he chose to disregard it.

Tolerance4all

Oh, my yes! Marc Emery should meekly and quietly go to jail. Although, he knowingly broke the law because he feels that the Cannabis laws are contrary to basic human freedoms. Now, that he has been charged he should be a good sheople and welcome incarceration. It makes no sense for Marc to fight going to jail now. He shouldn't be denouncing the laws now that he has been charged. Everything has changed. His arguments that the laws are persecuting nonviolent drug using citizens are no longer valid. So Marc please tell your lawyers, and all those people supporting you that the law is the law and its counter productive to denouce them now. This will surely go a long way to changing the atrocious Cannabis laws. And why would you want to have a shorter stay in the Canadian system, when you can have a longer stay in the largest prison system in the world? You should be proud that the US has spent so much money on prosecuting you. Come on Marc do it for the cause.