Sailboat cocaine case delayed again as smuggler captain switches lawyers
Border agents found bricks of cocaine weighing 250 kilos
HALIFAX — The sentencing hearing for a sailboat captain caught smuggling 250 kilograms of cocaine from the Caribbean has been delayed yet again — this time for a change of lawyers. Lawyer Patrick MacEwen informed Judge Gregory Lenehan that he was appearing for Jacques John Grenier in Halifax provincial court Monday. MacEwen told Lenehan he had not yet been fully retained by Grenier, but expected he would be, and the sentencing hearing was adjourned until March 20. He didn’t say why defence lawyer Brad Sarson is no longer on the case. Crown lawyer Glen Scheuer told Lenehan he will possibly call evidence at the sentencing hearing on charges of possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and importing cocaine. A third charge against Grenier — conspiracy to import cocaine — has yet to be dealt with. The hearing has been postponed several times, including earlier this month after Grenier underwent surgery and was still recovering. The Hubbards, N.S., man entered the pleas last November after the Canada Border Services Agency boarded the boat in September at a marina near Halifax. Officers found several bricks of cocaine inside a bed frame on the Canadian-registered, eight-metre boat called Quesera, which had arrived from the small Caribbean island of Saint Martin. Another man, Luc Chevrefils of Quebec, is facing charges of possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and conspiracy to import cocaine in the same incident. The agency said at the time that it was unusual to find such a large stash in a small boat.