The New Earth and Labrador Court of Appeals decided on Monday, April 11, to cancel the acquittal of Shane Leonard and send him directly to conviction.
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Leonard was one of 10 people charged with drug offenses in 2016 following a police investigation into Operation Bombing. Accused of selling Percocet – a painkiller containing acetaminophen and the opioid oxycodone – Leonard testified that he was prescribed the pills after a car accident and a series of work-related injuries and had started selling some after losing some. from the compensation of his worker. A friend told him he could make extra money selling the pills, he testified, explaining that he had sold them for $ 8 each and did not know they contained oxycodone. Leonard was acquitted of the charge in 2019. The Crown appealed the decision and the matter was discussed in the Court of Appeals last month. The appellate court found that Leonard had deliberately blinded himself to whether the Percocet trade was a crime. The trial judge had found that Leonard knew the brand name of the prescription drug he was selling and that it was wrong, they wrote. His only defense was that he was unaware of Percocet’s chemical composition and had not heard of anyone being accused of possessing or selling the drug. “These facts inevitably lead to the conclusion that Mr Leonard was deliberately blind to whether the Percocet trafficking was a criminal offense,” the appellate judges concluded. “He claims he did not know the ingredients in the medicine. It was convenient not to know. He had deliberate ignorance. he deliberately chose not to do research. “ Instead of ordering a new trial, the judges ruled that the Crown’s request to replace the acquittal was appropriate treatment in Leonard’s case. He is expected to be sentenced later in the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador.
