Drug dealer’s delay ploy denied

A convicted drug dealer faces sentencing after his bid to have the case dismissed over the time it took to reach a verdict was dismissed on Monday.

From the time charges were sworn to when a verdict was issued, the case against Joseph William Hammer lasted two years, seven months and 21 days.

But once the delays attributed to Hammer and his lawyer were accounted for, judge Shannon Keyes found the total dropped to 17 months and three weeks, just under the 18-month threshold for cases in provincial court.

Much of the delay was due to Hammer’s slow going in finding a lawyer as well the time it took for the entry of exhibits during what was supposed to be a straight-forward trial and his arrest on similar charges from a separate incident while the matter was before the court.

Hammer was successful in a previous attempt to have charges thrown out over delays.

Despite describing him as an “unrepentant drug dealer,” provincial court judge Michael Brecknell stayed a count of trafficking against Hammer in September 2011 because of the three years and six-and-a-half months it took to reach a verdict.

Keyes is to consider sentencing for Hammer this Friday on counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking in heroin and cocaine from a May 2014 arrest at a 2300-block Ruggles Street home.

Hammer is also pursuing a delay application following a guilty verdict for trafficking heroin from an August 2014 arrest at a 2300-block Redwood Street home.

He has one previous conviction for possession for the purpose of trafficking.