When she was running to replace Gordon Campbell, as leader
of the BC Liberal Party, she
told News 1130 that the courts needed to hand down harsher sentences to
high-profile criminals.
"When we find
criminals that are out there selling drugs, we should put them in jail and we
should keep them in jail. I think this revolving door of justice is an absolute
disgrace."
Now let’s fast forward 9 months (September 2011) ... we have one story after the other coming out in the news media about Joseph William Hammer (a cocaine dealer in Prince George), who had his case thrown out by Provincial Court Judge Michael Brecknell.
And why was that?
His (Judge Brecknell) interpretation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and
Freedoms was that a person had the right to be tried within a reasonable time …
and that should be within 18months. A lack of resources were the reason it had taken over three and a half years to get a verdict in the case of
cocaine dealer Joseph Hammer, and because of that, Hammer was to be released.
He went on to say an "unrepentant drug dealer" should "now be able to be free of the consequences of this very serious offense... should alarm and concern the community.”
