From: johnturmel@yahoo.com   
      
   JCT: With his trial coming up on April 25, Luc Paquette was   
   in the Court of Appeal trying to stay it with having a   
   Preliminary Inquiry first. And since it was opened with   
   Judge Laflamme dealing with the Quash motion, his earlier   
   motion to Superior Court for Mandamus that Judge Millar hear   
   the Quash Motion first was mooted.   
      
   But though the Superior Court motion seeking to stay any   
   trial without first holding a Preliminary Inquiry was mooted   
   when the Crown dropped the S.7 production charge and the   
   changing the Over 3Kg Possession for the Purpose of   
   Trafficking charge to under 3Kg. With those two charges   
   gone, he gets tried below with no need for a Preliminary   
   Inquiry.   
      
   So, Judge Mandeville ruled:   
      
       [8] I agree with Justice Therrien that the applicant's   
       Application for Mandamus or Prohibition is moot. That   
       application essentially seeks orders to have the   
       Application to Quash decided and prohibiting that a   
       trial be held without a preliminary inquiry or any   
       preliminary inquiry pursued before this Application to   
       Quash has been decided. Since the Applicant's   
       Application to Quash is scheduled to be heard on April   
       25 2018, thus before any preliminary inquiry or trial is   
       held, the remedies sought by the Application for   
       mandamus or prohibition have been made available de   
       facto to the applicant. Moreover, it is premature at   
       this time to determine whether or not the applicant is   
       entitled to a preliminary inquiry, that issue being ripe   
       for determination only once the Application to Quash has   
       been decided.   
      
   As expected, everything is now on track though I thought   
   whether he's entitled to a preliminary inquiry was settled   
   when they reduced his charges. Wonder what that means.   
      
   So the Quash motion will be heard as scheduled first. And   
   then we see what happens.   
      
   TURMEL: Judge Mainville reserves on MedPot Luc Paquette Prelim   
      
   JCT: Ray Turmel was with Luc Paquette in the Quebec Court of   
   today on a motion not to allow a trial without a   
   Preliminary Inquiry. Gatineau Crown Crown Sandra Bonnano   
   made the trip to Montreal. Justice Robert Mainville   
   presiding.   
      
   The problem is that you don't get a Preliminary Inquiry if   
   you are being tried in Provincial Cour du Quebec by judge   
   alone!! I knew that you didn't get a jury trial if the   
   charge was under 3Kg but I didn't know you could be facing a   
   big 5-year sentence for under 3KG and not get a Preliminary   
   Inquiry. Live and learn. If you are charged with more than   
   3Kg, you may have a jury trial. If you are charged with   
   under 3KG, no Election and no Preliminary Inquiry!   
      
   Most of the people I've helped were charged with production   
   which has an automatic election to jury trial and P.I. And   
   most of them admit the facts since they're challenging the   
   law, and waive the P.I. that shows evidence enough to be   
   bound over for trial.   
      
   The problem is that he was facing the more serious   
   production charge and P4P Over 3Kg when he demanded his   
   Preliminary Inquiry. When Judge Millar sent him off to have   
   his Quash Motion heard, it mentioned no witnesses would be   
   there at that time but there was no distinction whether they   
   were going to be witnesses for the P.I. or for the trial.   
   Except that the Court Record listed it as a Charter   
   Challenge which is heard by the Trial Judge once the trial   
   is started. And he still had a right to P.I. at that point.   
      
   So did Judge Laflamme start the trial in order to hear the   
   Quash Motion he was told was a Charter Motion? He should   
   have if he thought it was a Charter challenge. But if he   
   did, he would have asked Luc for his plea, at the opening of   
   the trial. He did not, or Ray would have noted it.   
      
   Regardless, the motion for Prohibition was filed while Luc   
   was facing the production and P4P Over 3K charge and due his   
   P.I. But at his Quash hearing, the Crown withdrew the   
   charges that would have given him the P.I., the Production   
   count, and also reduced the P4P to under 3K. So now he had   
   no more right to a P.I. or election to jury trial.   
      
   The Crown brought along all the Court records and all the   
   audio CDs. The judge called it such a mess that he reserved   
   his decision and hoped to get it resolved before the   
   Wednesday hearing before Laflamme continues.   
      
   That is no problem. Laflamme is doing the Quash first as it   
   should be. And then, it will go to trial properly without a   
   P.I. now that the Crown changed the charges.   
      
   So Justice Mainville is going to dig deeper and then tell us   
   what happened. But it looks like everything is back on   
   track.   
      
   Other than it should have been Judge Millar as judge of   
   first instance doing the Quash, having passed it off to   
   Judge Laflamme means everything is now on track. And we'll   
   know for sure that Luc no longer gets a P.I. now that he's   
   staying below on the lesser charges.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)