City man changes plea
By Shurtz, Delon on March 20, 2020.
Delon Shurtz
lethbridge herald
A Lethbridge man scheduled to stand trial on several charges changed his mind and pleaded guilty during a hearing Thursday in Lethbridge provincial court.
Although Calgary lawyer Shaun Leochko said there were issues relating to his client’s arrest that could have been argued at trial, Jason Anthony Morin decided to resolve his matters, instead.
Morin pleaded guilty to charges of possession of stolen property, drug possession, failure to comply with probation and several offences under the Traffic Safety Act. He was sentenced to 110 days in jail, but released from custody after receiving credit for even more than that amount of time spent in remand since his arrest last year.
Court was told police conducted a traffic stop April 5, 2019 on a vehicle in which Morin was a passenger. Morin, who was subject to a probation order at the time not to have any illegal substances, was caught with 7.2 grams of carfentanil and 4.7 grams of methamphetamine.
Just after midnight on Sept. 10 police again arrested Morin, who was wanted on a warrant. During a search of a residence police found 17 hydromorphine tablets and a syringe filled with fentanyl.
Then on Dec. 26, about 2:40 a.m., Morin was the passenger in a vehicle stopped by police. Police noticed a drug pipe with what appeared to contain methamphetamine residue, and during a search found 7.6 grams of carfentanil hidden in the waistband of Morin’s underwear, even though he was under a probation order not to possess illegal substances.
Morin was sentenced to 30 days in jail for all the offences, plus 75 days on four counts of driving while suspended in 2019 and five days for driving a vehicle with a stolen licence plate. He was also fined $2,875, including surcharge, for driving without insurance.
12-11
