Carter handed absolute discharge on pot charge
Ex-roughrider decides to plead guilty and accept responsibility, lawyer says
Former Saskatchewan Roughriders receiver and defensive back Duron Carter has been given an absolute discharge after pleading guilty to a single marijuana-possession charge on the day his trial was set to begin.
Carter, 27, was not present in Saskatoon provincial court Monday morning when his Regina-based lawyer, Louis Mercier, asked that his previous not-guilty plea be expunged and a guilty plea entered.
“He decided to accept responsibility so he could move his football career forward. He just didn’t think it was worth the risk when he could accept responsibility for having marijuana on his person,” Mercier said.
Carter was arrested at the Saskatoon airport on the evening of Feb. 1 while flying into the city from a destination in the U.S. Court heard that a customs officer found 6.8 grams of marijuana in a cigar package in his carry-on bag.
He was subsequently arrested by Saskatoon police and charged with simple possession of marijuana, a charge to which he pleaded not guilty in June, shortly before leaving the Roughriders for the Toronto Argonauts.
The matter was set for trial on Monday. At the time of the notguilty plea, Mercier told Postmedia News that the plea was based in part on Carter’s desire to make a Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms application.
Carter’s defence was hampered after an airport video of his arrest was apparently deleted or erased, and was therefore not provided in the Crown’s disclosure to his lawyer, Mercier said in the summer.
On Monday, Mercier and federal Crown prosecutor Murray Pelletier made a joint submission asking for an absolute discharge.
Carter’s charge was thought to be the last case of simple possession still on the books in Saskatchewan after recreational marijuana was legalized on Oct. 17 — a point Mercier addressed on Monday.
“I think the federal government was clear that if you were charged with possession of marijuana when it was illegal, just because it’s legal now doesn’t mean it wasn’t a criminal offence at the time,” he said.
“At the same time, (he shouldn’t) be severely punished for something that is not illegal. I think an absolute discharge was fair in all the circumstances.”
This summer, Carter pleaded guilty to a separate marijuana-possession charge that was laid after he was caught with pot at the Winnipeg airport. He received an absolute discharge.
Mercier said Monday that he believes Carter has learned his lesson.
“He is getting older. This is now his second professional football team he’s playing with, so I don’t think it’ll happen again.”