R. v. Myers (M.R.), 2000 SKQB 226

• Judge: McLellan, J.
• Court: Court of Queen's Bench of Saskatchewan (Canada)
• Case Date: May 15, 2000
• Jurisdiction: Saskatchewan
• Citations: 2000 SKQB 226;(2000), 193 Sask.R. 289 (QB)

R. v. Myers (M.R.) (2000), 193 Sask.R. 289 (QB)

MLB headnote and full text

Temp. Cite: [2000] Sask.R. TBEd. MY.046

Her Majesty The Queen (appellant) v. Marvin Myers (respondent)

(1999 Q.B.G. No. 3648; 2000 SKQB 226)

Indexed As: R. v. Myers (M.R.)

Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench

Judicial Centre of Regina

McLellan, J.

May 15, 2000.

Summary:

The accused was charged with selling cigarettes to a young person, contrary to s. 8(1) of the Tobacco Act. A test shopper had attended at the accused's workplace at the direction of a Tobacco Act enforcement officer and had purchased cigarettes from the accused without being questioned about his age or asked for identification.

The Saskatchewan Provincial Court, in a decision reported at 185 Sask.R. 281, found that the accused did not comply with the Act. However, the court entered a stay of pro­ceedings where it found that the pro­cedure used by the enforcement officer amounted to entrapment resulting in an abuse of process. The Crown appealed.

The Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench dismissed the appeal.

Criminal Law - Topic 205.1

Common law defences - Entrapment - Requirement of reasonable suspicion or a bona fide investigation - [See Trade Reg­ulation - Topic 5266 ].

Criminal Law - Topic 205.2

Common law defences - Entrapment hear­ing - [See Trade Regulation - Topic 5266 ].

Criminal Law - Topic 253

Abuse of process - What constitutes - [See Trade Regulation - Topic 5266 ].

Criminal Law - Topic 4486

Procedure - Trial - Stay of proceedings - [See Trade Regulation - Topic 5266 ].

Trade Regulation - Topic 5266

Retailers - Offences - Particular offences - Selling tobacco to a minor - A tobacco enforcement officer directed a 16 year old to attend at a Shell station where the youth purchased cigarettes from the accused - The accused was charged with selling tobacco to a young person - While the trial judge found the accused committed the offence, he entered a stay of proceedings where he found that the pro­cedure used amounted to entrap­ment resulting in an abuse of process - The trial judge con­sidered that there was no evi­dence that the accused or his employer were under suspi­cion for previ­ous vio­lations and that other investi­gation methods could have been used - The Crown appealed the find­ing of entrap­ment and also argued that the trial judge erred in not holding a hearing to determine the entrap­ment issue - The Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench dismissed the appeal - Testing all retailers without any reasonable suspicion that any particular retailer had committed violations was clearly random virtue testing - There was no need for the trial judge to hold a hear­ing on the entrap­ment issue.

Cases Noticed:

R. v. Mack, [1989] 2 S.C.R. 903; 90 N.R. 173; 44 C.C.C.(3d) 513, refd to. [para. 5].

R. v. Pearson (E.) (1998), 233 N.R. 367; 130 C.C.C.(3d) 293 (S.C.C.), refd to. [para. 13].

Counsel:

David A. Halvorsen, for the Crown;

Marvin Myers appeared for himself.

This appeal was heard before McLellan, J., of the Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench, Judicial Centre of Regina, who delivered the following decision on May 15, 2000.