Clark Protz guilty of pot trafficking

A 37-year-old Yorkton man has been convicted of trafficking marijuana.

In May 2012, acting on a tip obtained from the Saskatoon Police, Yorkton RCMP conducted a traffic stop near Theodore of a Jeep driven by Clark Protz.

An informant had provided police with information that a shipment of pot would be leaving Saskatoon in a tan Jeep driven by someone named Clark at around 1 p.m. on May 1

The arresting officer, Const. Jill Boutilier and her partner Jeff Ball testified that when they approached the vehicle they could smell raw cannabis and viewed a large bag in plain view in the back of the truck. When Protz identified himself Boutilier believed she had everything she needed to make the arrest.

A subsequent search of the vehicle produced approximately 20 pounds of marijuana.

Protz told police he had a medical marijuana permit and that the drugs he was carrying was destined for other legal medical users. That defence, however, did not hold up because a medical marijuana licence only allows for possession of 150 grams and does not give the holder the right to distribute to other users.

The defence case, led by David Rusnak, relied entirely on having the results of the search excluded on the basis that it violated Protz’s Charter right to be secure from unreasonable search and seizure.

On April 10, Justice Donald Layh ruled on a Charter application at Court of Queen’s Bench in Yorkton.

In a lengthy decision, the judge relied heavily on R. v. Shinkewski, a case out of Prince Albert of very similar circumstances. The original trial judge in that case had ruled the RCMP had no reasonable grounds to search Lee Shinkewski’s vehicle, but that was overturned by Justice Caldwell of the Court of Appeal.

In that case, police had staked out a home in Prince Albert where they had information from Saskatoon that a shipment of marijuana and cocaine would be delivered. Several vehicles had come and gone, but officers targeted Shinkewski’s truck based on information from their sergeant that the accused was the subject of three other marijuana trafficking cases, which turned out to be untrue.

Caldwell ruled that the evidence was admissible even though the members had no certainty drugs had been delivered and that the sergeant had acted on bad information and no evidence had been in plain sight at the time of the traffic stop.

Layh said there was far more certainty in the case before him and found no fault with the actions of police.

Furthermore, he said, he had to balance the effect of excluding the evidence on society’s confidence in the administration of justice and on the Crown’s case.

In that regard, he said even if Protz’s Charter rights had been infringed, the evidence obtained from the search was critical to the Crown’s case and not admitting it would undermine public trust in the system.

Because the Charter application had been made during a voire dire within the trial, Layh was able to go directly to verdict and found Protz guilty.

Sentencing is scheduled for September 10.