Possible manslaughter charge for alleged drug dealers would hinge on knowledge drugs were tainted: lawyers

A string of overdoses and two deaths in Saskatoon areraisingthe possibilityof a manslaughter charge for the three people police allegesold the deadly drugs.

JagmanjotGrewal, ShervinBeeharry and AzamKabaniall face trafficking and weapons charges in relation to what police say was the sale of a lethal mixture of cocaine and fentanyl. They were arrested and charged over the weekend.

Beeharry, 19,has an address in Saskatoon while Grewal, 21, and Kabani, 19,both have Calgary addresses, according to court records.

On Saturday, police responded to a total of six calls from three different locations around the city about people suffering from overdoses.A 48-year-old woman and a man died from overdoses. Another woman who was found unresponsive is receiving medical attention.

Police released the street nameLilJoe or Joe Broand the phone number ofthe alleged drug dealer.

Police wouldn't confirm whether or not any of the three arrested wereLilJoe or Joe Bro, but they did say they believe they have the right people in custody.

Manslaughter a possibility: lawyers

Policeare investigating the overdose deaths, which they sayhappened because people used cocaine laced with what is suspected to be fentanyl.

That investigation could result in a homicide charge likely manslaughter but only if Crown prosecutors can prove the alleged dealers knew the drug they were selling was lethal, lawyers say.

"There is certainly case law that would support criminal negligence causing death and manslaughter in certain circumstances," saidBrian Pfefferle, who practises criminal law in Saskatoon.

Pfefferlesaid those circumstances would have to be clear and the burden of proof is always on the Crown.

"The Crown would need to prove that the death was caused by the substance and the person trafficking the substance knew that substance could cause significant bodily harm," he said.

Kent Roach, a law professor from the University of Toronto, says Canada's manslaughter laws are broad enough to allow this kind of charge.

"It seems to me plausible that someone who is dealing drugs that they know have an opiate like fentanyl in [them] could be charged with manslaughter if someone died as a result," Roach said.

Precedent for manslaughter charge

There is also precedentfor this kind of charge.

A 33-year-old Edmonton man was charged withmanslaughter after a 39-year-old man from Sherwood Park was discovereddead in his vehicle in 2017.

In 1993, the Supreme Court of Canada upheldthe conviction of Marc Creighton, whowas charged with manslaughter after he injected his friend with cocaine on Oct. 27, 1989.

Roach said even if the buyers knew what they were buying in this case, cocaine laced with sometimes potentially deadly fentanyl, according to police the charge could still stand.

"I don't think that claims that the victim consented would necessarily be a barrier to the prosecution. It would certainly present another possible issue for the defence to argue, but I don't think that's a definitive barrier to the prosecution."

But Pfefferlesaidmany of the cases he's seen where a dealer is charged with someone's death end up being pleaded down meaning the accused pleadedguilty to a lesser charge.

The three men charged this weekend are due back in court for theirbail hearing Wednesday.