Two guilty pleas leave 23 other charges stayed

By Jeremy Appel on September 28, 2018.

jappel@medicinehatnews.com @MHNJeremyAppel

A man facing 25 drug-related charges pled guilty Thursday to two counts of conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, while his co-accused maintained not-guilty pleas.

Wayne Arthur Shrubsall — who pled guilty to conspiring to traffic cocaine and methamphetamine — appeared in the prisoner box at Medicine Hat Provincial Court, while Joshua Norman Monroe appeared in person.

Shrubsall was sentenced to four-and-a-half years for the meth charge and three years concurrent for the cocaine charge.

In exchange for his guilty plea, the other 23 charges against Shrubsall were stayed by the Crown.

On Sept. 15, Shrubsall was sentenced to two-and-a-half years for trafficking out of Swift Current.

He has 19 months credit for time served, so Shrubsall will be eligible for statutory release in 22 months, or July 2020.

Earlier Thursday, the defendants’ Charter application to dismiss some of the Crown’s evidence — specifically, what they found on Shrubsall’s phone — was dismissed by Judge Eric Peterson.

On Aug. 17, 2016, police texted Shrubsall’s Calgary supplier to arrange a drug delivery.

They arrested Monroe at the Medicine Hat Travelodge later that day with five ounces of meth and one ounce of cocaine.

Shrubsall’s defence counsel Marc Crarer argued the evidence police had amassed at the time of his arrest didn’t justify it.

The police had found half a gram of meth in his car, a search based on confidential source information, which Crarer dismissed as “hearsay.”

Further investigation was needed to justify Shrubsall’s arrest for possession for the purposes of trafficking, he argued.

A search cannot retroactively justify what was found, Crarer added.

“What are they supposed to do? Pat him on the back and send him on his way,” Peterson asked in reply.

Crarer said police should have applied for a warrant to search further.

“The Charter is trying to protect the state’s policing power from going too far,” he said.

Greg Craven, Monroe’s lawyer, added that people still have a reasonable expectation of privacy when they’re in their vehicle. It’s not as much as they would in a house, but it still exists.

The Crown prosecutor countered, saying that applying for a search warrant takes between two and five hours, depending on the type.

The experienced drug officers had witnessed Shrubsall engage in numerous suspicious transactions suspected to be drug deals, he added.

“We assess the ground on the moment they make the arrest,” said the prosecutor. “It’s not based on what they did or didn’t find.”

Monroe’s trial continues.

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