A photo of the items seized at the Prince Albert residence on Jan. 8. (Submitted photo/PAPS)

By Susan McNeil

Acquittal upheld

Appeal court upholds acquittal on P.A. drug charges

Jan 24, 2024 | 3:46 PM

The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal has upheld the acquittal of Justin Charles on various gun and drug charges based on two warrants used by Prince Albert Police.

A provincial court judge ruled that Charles’ rights under Sections 8 and 9 of the Charter were violated and that allowing the evidence collected using those warrants would bring the administration of justice into disrepute.

On January 8, 2021, the PAPS SWAT team surrounded a home in the city and used pepper spray to get 12 people out of the residence, where they were all subsequently arrested.

Charles was then charged with possessing weapons including a banned gun and possessing cocaine and meth for the purpose of trafficking.

Three other suspects were also charged with the same offences and the remaining suspects were all issued gun-related charges.

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The first warrant was to search the home and out of that, a warrant to search a cellphone was also used.

The provincial court judge had ruled that the first warrant “did not provide a basis upon which a justice could conclude that there were reasonable and probable grounds to believe that [he] had committed or will commit the ‘offences’ enumerated … nor that there were reasonable and probable grounds to believe that the ‘things’ could be located in [his residence], contrary to s. 8 of the Charter”.

Because the first warrant was invalid, the second warrant that arose out of its results was also not valid.

The Crown had no other evidence and the judge acquitted him.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com