HALIFAX - A Halifax lawyer diagnosed with depression and a personality disorder was convicted Thursday of smuggling drugs to a client in jail, despite her claim that she thought the package contained only tobacco.
Nova Scotia Supreme Court Judge Kevin Coady acknowledged Anne Calder was under great stress at the time, but said she knew what she was doing when she handed an envelope containing a prescription painkiller to inmate Thomas Izzard on July 14, 2009.
"It is inconceivable that Miss Calder would not be on the alert to the very real likelihood that the package contained drugs as well as tobacco," Coady told the court, adding that the former Crown attorney had practised law for 15 years.
"If Miss Calder persuaded herself that it was tobacco, which I very much doubt, she would have had to deliberately ignore her instincts and her past experience. ... She knew the package contained drugs and was wilfully blind to that likelihood."
The judge also said Calder knew it was against the rules to hand uninspected packages to inmates, and that tobacco is considered contraband in jail.
Surveillance video from an interview room at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Halifax shows Calder taking an envelope out of a satchel on the floor and putting it under some papers that she passes to Izzard.
The video shows Izzard moving the package under the table before putting his right hand in his pants pocket.
A corrections officer monitoring the video feed noticed the suspicious activity and alerted a supervisor.
When officers strip-searched Izzard, they found a small, cigar-shaped package tightly sealed in plastic cling wrap.
The officers testified that they immediately recognized the cylindrical object as a "prison pack," which are often hidden in the rectum as a means of smuggling drugs.
Court heard the package contained loose tobacco, a pill capsule and 2.6 grams of a white granular substance later identified as hydromorphone -- better known by its brand name Dilaudid.
The 57-year-old lawyer was arrested that night and charged with trafficking in hydromorphone.
"There can be no doubt that the transfer was done surreptitiously," said Coady. "I find that Miss Calder and Mr. Izzard's efforts to conceal their activities speaks of hiding more than tobacco."
Calder was also charged with possession of hydromorphone and marijuana for the purpose of trafficking after police searched her home that night, finding two more prison packs.
Coady convicted her on all three counts.
Calder dabbed her eyes with a tissue after the judge finished reading his decision, but she uttered not a sound.
Earlier testimony from a psychiatrist confirmed Calder had been diagnosed with a major depressive disorder and a personality disorder that led her to go to extreme lengths to seek the approval of others.
While the judge accepted those findings, he said Calder's misguided decisions were rationally made.
"I can accept that Miss Calder's mental and physical health ... might have impacted on her resolve and may have dimmed her view of the consequences," Coady said.
"However, that does not equate to a lack of intent. Miss Calder knew she was being asked to traffic for Mr. Izzard ... and then decided to take her chances on not getting caught."
In a statement to police, Calder said she should have known better than to secretly hand tobacco to an inmate, but she said she felt sorry for Izzard.
"I know this sounds ridiculous, but ... I'm very sympathetic to people," she told police.
"I have some clients that are jerks in there and some of them, I feel, have been screwed. He's one of them."
Calder, a member of the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society since 1995, voluntarily suspended her legal practice a week after she was charged.
Her lawyer, Craig Garson, declined to comment after the decision hearing.
Calder will be sentenced April 4.
