TURMEL: Jury finds Fontana guilty, community service sentence

[KingofthePaupers]

TURMEL: Jury finds Fontana guilty, community service sentence

A 1500-second trial
Un proces de 1500 secondes

Louis-Denis Ebacher
Le Droit 10 mars 2017

Un agriculteur reconnu coupable de production d'une vingtaine
de plants de cannabis a Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix s'en tire avec
100 heures de travaux communautaires et une peine suspendue,
au terme d'un etonnant proces devant jury qui aura dure 1500
secondes.
A farmer found guilty of producing twenty-some cannabis
plants at Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix escapes with a suspended
sentence and 100 hours of community service after an
astounding jury trial that took 1500 seconds.

L'affaire a fait sourciller plusieurs procureurs et avocats,
ces derniers jours, au palais de justice de Gatineau. Certains
observateurs se demandaient quelle etait l'utilite de
convoquer 12 jures, de payer les couts relies a leur securite,
et d'inviter un juge de la Cour superieure provenant de
l'exterieur de la region - l'Outouais est en penurie de
magistrats - pour un dossier aussi simple.
The case has many knit eyebrows among prosecutors and
lawyers these recent days at the Gatineau Courthouse. Certain
observers were asking themselves what was the use of convoking
12 jurors, paying the costs of their security, and inviting
Superior Court Justice from outside the region - Outaouais is
short of magistrates - for such a simple dossier.

JCT: Actual costs for 3 days with jury were:
300 potential jurors get $45/day for showing up. 60 did not.
12 jurors and 2 alternates get $103 once picked.
3 Crown lawyers and 5 police officers must cost $200/1stday.
2 Crown lawyers and 1 police officer next two days.
Judge, bailiffs, clerks, court-reporter for 3 days too.

So that's 300-60-14= 226*$45 = $10,170
14 jurors * $103 * 3 days = 4,326
3Crown/5Police 1st day = 1,600
2Crown/1Police 2 more days = 1,200
Guess 2 Grand a day for court staff = 6,000
---------
= $23,296
Now, let's count in the costs of his first few appearances,
his Quash Motion, and not the costs of his Probation Office to
oversee his community service. I think $25K is a good guess.

L'accuse, Nicolas Fontana, a ete arrete en aout 2015, apres
que la Surete du Quebec l'ait filme en train d'arroser les
plants illegaux sur sa terre. D'emblee, l'accuse a admis avoir
ete en possession de ces plants, devant le jury. Seul temoin,
un policier a pris quelques minutes pour expliquer comment
l'enquete s'etait deroulee.
The accused, Nicolas Fontana, was arrested in August 2015
after the Surete du Quebec filmed him watering the illegal
plants on his property. Straight off, the accused admitted
possession of the plants before the jury. The only witness, a
police officer, took a few minutes to explain how the
investigation unfolded.

Le proces a dure moins de 25 minutes. Le jury a delibere
rapidement et la reponse est tombee: <coupable> de production
de cannabis.
The trial took less than 25 minutes. The jury quickly
deliberated and the verdict came down: Guilty of production of
cannabis.

Raymond Turmel
Allie de M. Fontana, le militant pour le <pot> Raymond Turmel
a assiste au proces. Le but avoue des deux hommes etait de se
faire declarer coupable, afin de porter la cause devant la
Cour d'appel. En plaidant coupable, ce recours aurait ete
impossible.
Allied with Mr. Fontana, militant for "Pot" Raymond
Turmel helped with the process. The goal of the two men was to
be declared guilty in order to take the case to the Court of
Appeal. Pleading guilty, this option would have been
impossible.

JCT: Sadly, it leaves the impression that we're appealing to
ask the higher court to find him not guilty of growing the 22
plants he admitted growing. Pretty stupid that would be.

Leur cause en Cour d'appel pourrait ne pas etre entendue avant
l'an prochain, selon M. Turmel, qui refute avoir agi ainsi
pour gagner du temps, en attendant que la loi du gouvernement
Trudeau legalisant le cannabis soit votee.
Their case in the Court of Appeal won't be heard until
next year, according to Mr. Turmel, who refutes having acted
to gain time while waiting for the law of the Trudeau
government legalizing cannabis to be passed.

JCT: Actually, we're not counting on Trudeau. We know that it
is to appeal the dismissal of the Quash and Charter motions
that were not mentioned. So it's not as loser a move as it was
made to seem. The reporter didn't cover the Charter challenge
so is left with the impression it's about the his personal
conviction rather than the validity of the law. And we found
out in the Rene Ouellet appeal for certiorari that there was a
2-year waiting list once the appeal was perfected and put down
on the roll. 6-months for paperwork, that's 2.5 years. 6
months for Supreme Court, 3 years.

Tournant le dos au jury lors du verdict, M. Fontana s'est
ensuite excuse au juge pour son comportement.
Turning his back on the jury at the verdict, Mr. Fontana
then apologized to the judge for his behavior.

JCT: Hey, the jurors had the unpleasant task of convicting a
harmless person. I don't think they'll be bragging about
finding a dangerous criminal guilty. And I don't see the Crown
bragging about nailing a gentleman farmer.

Dans un court temoignage, l'accuse a dit prefere faire pousser
ses propres plants et ne pas acheter sa consommation a des
criminels.
In a short testimony, the accused said he preferred
growing his own plants than buying from criminals.

+ cheval entre sa residence de Mirabel et sa terre de Notre-
Dame-de-la-Paix, M. Fontana a dit craindre de voir ses
assurances monter en fleche s'il avait un dossier criminel.
A horse-ride between his residence in Mirabel and his
land in Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix, Mr. Fontana fears having his
insurance rates skyrocket with a criminal record.

Lois desuetes
Puis, il a cite le journal Le Droit, qui a ecrit, en novembre
2015, que l'ex-juge Pierre Chevalier, de la Cour du Quebec,
avait impose une amende symbolique d'un dollar a un homme
arrete en possession de 30 petits plants de cannabis. L'homme
en question avait dit au juge qu'il tentait en vain d'obtenir
une prescription pour ses maux de dos. Il avait mis en preuve
sa situation medicale, contrairement a M. Fontana, cette
semaine. Le juge avait qualifie les lois sur le cannabis de
<ridicules et desuetes>, a l'epoque.
Antiquated Laws
He also cited Le Droit which had reported in November
2015 how the ex-judge Pierre Chevalier of the Quebec Court had
imposed a symbolic fine of a dollar on a man arrested in
possession of 30 small cannabis plants who had told the judge
he was trying to obtain a prescription for his back-pain. He
put his medical situation into evidence, as opposed to Mr.
Fontana this week. The judge had qualified the cannabis laws
as "antiquated" in this era.

Cette semaine, le juge Jean-Francois Buffoni, qui a preside la
cause de M. Fontana, a invite ce dernier a <legaliser sa
situation> en allant chercher une prescription medicale, au
lieu de vivre en contrevenant.
This week, Judge Jean-Francois Buffoni, who presided over
Mr. Fontana's trial, urged him to "legalize your situation" by
going for a medical prescription instead of living like an
outlaw.

Le juge ne lui a pas donne l'absolution inconditionnelle
desiree, mais lui a impose une centaine d'heures de travaux
communautaires avec une sentence suspendue.
The judge did not grant him an Absolute Discharge he'd
sought, but imposed a hundred hours of community service with
a suspended sentence.

JCT: Actually, the lady Crown had pointed out that he could
not grant an absolute discharge for an Accused facing 14 years
or more.

<<Profitez du fait que la cour peut se montrer clemente pour
ne pas raffermir votre position dans la delinquance>, a dit le
juge a l'accuse se representant seul, bien que conseille par
M. Turmel, hors cour.
Profit from the fact that the court can show some
clemency to get into trouble again," said the judge to the
accused who represented himself, though counseled by Mr.
Turmel outside of court.

JCT: Actually, after all he's suffered so far, I don't think
two and half weeks of forced labor is much clemency.

Le juge <aurait eu l'impression de vendre un permis de
production> s'il avait impose une amende.
The judge "had the impression that it would have been
like selling a permit to produce" if he'd imposed a fine.

JCT: Who cares what it would have looked like. It would be
been a ray of hope at the twilight of the old evil era.

So, I'll write up a report on what happened at his Charter
challenge with my patient witnesses on doctors who refused for
non-medical reasons and his Expert Witness Report explaining
how reducing the chances of patient survival violates the
Charter Right to Life.