Legl 210 - Regina V. Leathers and Romero

Regina v. Leathers and Romero

LEGL 210-135

February 22, 2010

        The case of Regina v. Romero and Leathers was held in the Court of Queen’s Bench, in Courtroom 315 and the presiding Justice of this trial was Justice J. Ouellette.  It dealt with Public and Substantive laws.   As the trial began, the clerk read out the charges for Miguel Angel Romero who has been charged with two counts of possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and one count of possession of oxycodon for the purpose of trafficking.  She also read the charges for Eric Cameron Leathers who has been charged with: one count of possessing morphine for the purpose of trafficking, five counts of possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking, two counts of possessing oxycodon for the purpose of trafficking, three counts of possessing methamphetamines for the purpose of trafficking, two counts of possessing marijuana for the purpose of trafficking, one count of possessing money under $5000 as proceeds from a crime, and one count of possessing money over $5000 as proceeds from a crime.  The Crown Prosecutor was seeking the maximum penalty for Leathers, life imprisonment, and they did not state what penalty they were after for Romero.  Both men were present at the trial, sitting to the left of the judge and clerks, and both pleaded not guilty to all of the above charges.  

        On March 6, 2007 Edmonton Police arrested two men, one of which had been closely surveyed by the police for a couple of months.  The two men were caught in an alley in the Westmount area with large quantities of drugs for the purpose of trafficking.  On March 7, 2007 the police obtained a warrant and searched Eric Cameron Leathers’ home finding copious amounts of illegal narcotics and over $25,000.  The defence lawyers argued that the police violated Sections 8 and 9 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.  They challenged the search warrant and claimed the detectives lied about the amounts of drugs found on March 6, and used the incorrect information to obtain a warrant.  They also argued that since they lied about the facts they falsely imprisoned both men.  I was unable to see if this was proven true or not.  

Leathers had been known to police for quite some as the Metro Edmonton Gang Unit and Edmonton Police Service (EPS) Drug Section had kept close watch over Leathers’ home and activities leading up to the March 6th arrests.  The main witness was Det. Dale Johnson who was the primary investigator and co-ordinator of the EPS Drug Section and was assigned to survey Leathers.  Det. Johnson was on the stand and had a binder of notes taken during the stake out of Leathers’ home.  At first the defence lawyers objected to having Det. Johnson use his notes to tell the events that unfolded the on March 6th and 7th because they did not get a copy of them or a chance to review them, but after the detective repeatedly was unable to answer questions with a hundred percent certainty they allowed him to look through his notes.