Type of Charges: Possession for the purpose of trafficking
Type of Drugs: Cocaine Mushrooms Fentanyl
Likely Sentence if found guilty: 4-8 years
Result: Win. No criminal Record.
Lawyer: Sean Fagan
Win identifier number: 2241
Location: Calgary, AB
Date: 2022

Summary of Allegations:

The Gang Enforcement Team (GET) is a subset of the Calgary Police Serviced aimed at cracking down on gun, drug, and violent offences by organized criminals in Calgary. The GET was directed to focus their attention on X.X. and his associates for a period of time. GET, through use of mobile surveillance, observed X.X. and his purported associates engaging in behaviour consistent with drug trafficking. These are often described by officers at trial as meetings of short duration consistent with drug trafficking. The GET team also observed X.X. engaged in behaviour described as counter-surveillance. This is often described by officers at trial as:

driving in circles in certain neighbourhoods with no apparent destination
sudden lane changes
going down quiet alleyways
randomly stopping for periods of time

Using the surveillance observations, the GET team sought and obtained a warrant to search a number of residences and vehicles. The searches gleaned a number of alleged controlled substances including fentanyl, cocaine, and psilocybin mushrooms.

Drug prosecutions that involve warrants can be more challenging to defend than those that stem from motor vehicle stops. This is because the law holds that warrants are presumptively valid, whereas, with a motor vehicle stop, the police have to establish that the search and seizure were valid and not in violation of the driver’s Charter rights.

In this case, Sean Fagan was successful at beating all charges before trial, sparing X.X. a lengthy period of incarceration and a criminal record.