Pot charges against former Dartmouth Olympian Mihai Apostol stayed

A Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge has ordered a stay of charges against a former Dartmouth Olympian charged with producing marijuana for the purposes of trafficking, saying the Crown took too long to bring the case to trial.

Mihai Apostol defected from his native Romania in 1988 during the world junior canoe and kayak paddling championship on Dartmouth’s Lake Banook in the late 1980s.

He became a Canadian citizen, living in Dartmouth. He paddled for Canada in two Olympic Games — 1996 and 2000.

In 2012, Apostol and another man, Kenneth Greer, were caught up in a large police operation dubbed H-Tort, that targeted the illegal marijuana trade in the Halifax area.

Both Apostol and Greer were charged with production and possession of marijuana for the purposes of trafficking — but their case languished for years before trial dates were eventually set.

The trial was due to begin on Oct. 31, 2016 and run for one week.

At its scheduled conclusion it would be 46 and a half months after charges were first laid.

Justice Joshua Arnold, in a decision released Wednesday, said that’s an unreasonable amount of time to wait before trial.

He cited a series of missteps by police and the Crown that resulted in the lengthy delay before trial dates were set.

Delay in evidence disclosures a factor

One of the key issues cited by Justice Arnold is the length of time it took the Crown to provide disclosure evidence to the defendants.

Evidence disclosure is the basis of the Crown’s case. The Crown is compelled to provide defendants with that evidence so their lawyers can build the defence’s case.

The delay was compounded by how police organized the evidence for disclosure.

Justice Arnold wrote in his decision that the police decision not to collate disclosure material until after the Crown determined how the charges would be laid contributed to the overall delay in bringing the case to trial.

All the evidence was in the hands of police at the time the charges were laid against Apostol and Greer –and there was no subsequent investigation.

“There was no reason to wait so long to provide this disclosure,” Justice Arnold writes in his 38 page decision.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "There was no reason to wait so long to provide this disclosure," Justice Arnold writes in his 38 page decision.

The judge used previous case law to determine how long a trial can be delayed. A case heard by the Supreme Court of Canada determined that longer than 40 months should be considered as unreasonable.

“No matter how you slice it, this case comes up delay,” writes Justice Arnold. “The charges against Apostol and Greer must be stayed.”