Heavy drug user acquitted in alleged B.C. fentanyl trafficking case
Credit to Author: Keith Fraser| Date: Wed, 23 Oct 2019 22:57:22 +0000
A heavy drug user has been acquitted of possessing fentanyl and methamphetamine for the purpose of trafficking after a judge found shortcomings in the Crown’s case against him.
David William Main, 51, was arrested on Jan. 3, 2018 at the Hard Rock Casino in Coquitlam after police responded to a report from the casino’s security personnel that someone with his name had attempted to use a prisoner’s identification card to collect gambling winnings.
Security staff had contacted RCMP about Main and indicated that they were aware that he had an outstanding warrant for his arrest.
One of the RCMP officers who went to the scene ran Main’s name through a police database and found that earlier that day he had used his prisoner’s identification card, along with an affidavit, to claim winnings at another casino, the Elements Casino in Surrey.
Police had gone to the Surrey casino, but Main, who had claimed $7,000 in winnings from Elements, had left the casino before they arrived.
When police arrived at the Coquitlam casino, they found Main playing at a slot machine. He claimed later at trial that when police arrested him, he had been on an unprecedented winning streak, scooping up $9,000 in winnings.
Police handcuffed him and when they searched him incidental to his arrest, they found a collapsible baton in his right jacket pocket and a number of bags and a pill bottle in his left breast pocket.
Main also had a stack of $100 bills and a “cash out voucher” from the Hard Rock Casino indicating a stored value of about $4,100.
Testing later revealed that the pill bottle held 16 small baggies containing what police believed was heroin, but which turned out to be fentanyl and several drugs analogous to fentanyl.
The total weight of the bags, including the drugs and the bags, came to 4.52 grams. In two larger and separate bags was a total of 21.41 grams of methamphetamines.
A police expert, who was presented with a hypothetical scenario that mirrored the facts in Main’s case, testified at trial that there was no other reasonable conclusion than that the drugs were possessed for the purpose of trafficking.
Main admitted during his testimony that he possessed the drugs that were seized from him upon his arrest, but claimed that he was a heavy drug user and the drugs were for his personal consumption and not to be trafficked.
In a ruling in the case, Provincial Court Judge Robin McQuillan agreed with the defence that the Crown case had shortcomings and it was unclear as to the amount of fentanyl possessed by Main.
“It could be as little as 1.32 grams or perhaps even less, depending on the weight of the empty baggies,” said the judge. “In a heavy user, this amount could constitute less than a day and a half of use, according to the testimony of the (RCMP expert).”
The judge noted that there was also an absence of other signs of drug trafficking — no score sheets, cellphones, or scales found on Main — and the accused was not arrested in an area associated with drug dealing.
Main was acquitted of possessing fentanyl and methamphetamines for the purpose of trafficking but found guilty of the lesser offence of simple possession of the drugs.