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Jury finds pot activist guilty in possession case
By Hempology | October 14, 2005
Marijuana activist Leon (Ted) Smith was convicted of possession for the purpose of trafficking Thursday, a victim, said Smith, of his own big mouth.
The 11 women and one man on the B.C. Supreme Court jury were out less than three hours before returning to pronounce Smith guilty of possession of tetrahydrocannabinol (commonly called THC) for the purpose of trafficking.
BY RICHARD WATTS Times Colonist staff
After the verdict and outside the courtroom, the 36-year-old Smith said he believes it was his own openness, particularly with arresting police officers, that earned him his conviction.
I do regret having such a big mouth, said Smith.
Smith was arrested on Nov. 15, 2000. Police moved in just as he was unloading about 40 pounds of chocolate chip cookies from a car parked near the downtown library.
Officers were following up on a newspaper article published days before, in which Smith was quoted as saying he planned to hand out marijuana cookies at a pro-marijuana demonstration.
Testimony at trial included arresting officer Sgt. Darren Laur who told the jury that Smith admitted to making the cookies with about two ounces of marijuana.
Defence lawyer Robert Moore-Stewart, in his final submission, threw doubt on testimony from the Health Canada analyst who performed the lab analysis of the cookies.
Moore-Stewart noted the analyst didnt even examine the cookies. Instead he analysed only the oily stain on the paper bag containing the cookies and only for THC, just one of the compounds found in marijuana.
And as for the police testimony, Moore-Stewart said it was suspect for an officer to recall such a long and complicated admission without ever using a tape or video recorder.
But Crown counsel Richard Fowler pointed out the testimony from police was consistent with statements Smith made to the newspaper.
There is just no room left to doubt what was going on here, said Fowler.
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