Possession of a Schedule I or II substance for the purpose of trafficking
R. v. Dorsey
Sentence and the Crown's position
A conditional sentence is served in the community, usually under house arrest. It counts as no custody here.
What the law allows
Bryan Mathew Dorsey pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking after a search of his Williams Lake residence linked to a dial-a-dope operation found 282 grams of cocaine and $10,000 in cash. The Crown sought 36 months of incarceration; the defence sought a conditional sentence. Justice Jenkins imposed a conditional sentence of two years less a day followed by 12 months of probation, finding that, given the Gladue report and the mitigating factors, a custodial sentence would likely be less than two years.
In the judge's words
1I find that if I were to impose a custodial sentence in all of the - circumstances, that sentence would likely be less than two years, mainly because of what I have read in the Gladue report and the mitigating factors I referred to previously.
The record
- Convicted of
- Prior convictions
- Not recorded
- At the time of the offence
- Not stated1
- Appeal
- Not yet checked
- Counsel
- Crown: A. McInnes and J.A. Billingsley
Defence: W.J. Herdy
Sources
- R. v. Dorsey, 2022 BCSC 1397 Court decision, CanLII, May 20, 2022
[24] The position of the Crown is quite straightforward. The Crown submits that an appropriate sentence, in these circumstances, would be 36 months of incarceration.
[2] On October 18, 2022, Mr. Dorsey entered a plea of guilty to possessing a controlled substance, to wit, cocaine, for the purpose of trafficking contrary to s. 5(2) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, S.C. 1996, c. 19.
[37] That question has been answered in Proulx, Chen, and Sharma. I find that if I were to impose a custodial sentence in all of the - circumstances, that sentence would likely be less than two years, mainly because of what I have read in the Gladue report and the mitigating factors I referred to previously.
[38] Accordingly, sir, I am imposing a conditional sentence of two years less a day, commencing today, concluding on May 19, 2024, to be served in the community … [43] There will also be a probation order for a period of 12 months following the conditional sentence on the same conditions as set out for the conditional sentence.
- R. v. Dorsey, 2022 BCSC 1397 Court decision, Courts of British Columbia