Court rejects trafficker’s mental illness argument

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This article was published 17/02/2023 (1146 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG — Manitoba’s highest court has overturned a probationary sentence for a man arrested in a massive meth and cocaine bust, ruling he must serve prison time because his mental illness played no role in his decision to traffic drugs.

Anthony Cerezo-Brennan, 34, was among 11 people arrested in Calgary and Manitoba in December 2019 as part of an RCMP sting that took 22 kilograms of meth and 43 kilograms of cocaine off the streets.

Cerezo-Brennan was arrested for trafficking after he sold three kilograms of meth to an undercover police officer. He spent nearly six months in custody before he was released on bail to Teen Challenge, a faith-based residential drug treatment program, where he remained for 18 months until his sentencing last April.

A psychiatrist who prepared a forensic report for Cerezo-Brennan’s sentencing diagnosed him with a delusional disorder, noting he had developed “paranoid and grandiose beliefs,” beginning in the spring of 2019. Cerezo-Brennan was also diagnosed with cocaine and alcohol-use disorder.

His “delusional beliefs are impacting on his ability to appreciate the potential outcome of proceedings, as he believes that God has sent him messages that he will be acquitted, despite the evidence against him,” Dr. Jeffrey Waldman wrote in his report. Cerezo-Brennan’s delusional beliefs abated with treatment, Waldman said.

Cerezo-Brennan admitted to being a mid-level drug trafficker, his sentencing hearing was told.

Provincial court Judge Sandy Chapman credited him for time served and sentenced him to three years of supervised probation, to be spent living and working at Teen Challenge.

Prosecutors had argued eight years was a fit sentence for Cerezo-Brennan’s crime, reduced to 6 ½ to seven years in recognition of his significant rehabilitative efforts.

Chapman said “exceptional circumstances” in Cerezo-Brennan’s case, specifically his rehabilitative efforts and his mental state, supported a reduction of what would otherwise be a lengthy prison sentence.

Cerezo-Brennan “was suffering from a delusional order at the time of the incident, as well as addiction to both drugs and alcohol,” Chapman said at sentencing. “It was to help feed this addiction that led to the life that he was leading at the time.

“When I read Dr. Waldman’s report, I am told that the delusions themselves are connected to drug trafficking or a criminal-type lifestyle,” Chapman said. “So, although high, (his) moral culpability is reduced by the extraordinary issues he faced at the time.”

The Manitoba Court of Appeal has ruled the judge was mistaken in assuming Cerezo-Brennan’s moral blameworthiness for his crimes was automatically reduced because he suffered from a mental illness..

The appeal court said Chapman misinterpreted Waldman’s findings, pointing out that Cerezo-Brennan’s delusion that he was being guided on a “mission” for God did not develop until after he was in custody.

“The only connection mentioned by Dr. Waldman is that the accused’s ‘pattern of substance use did contribute to the circumstances that led to his charges,’” Justice Jennifer Pfuetzner wrote on behalf of the court. “That said, the accused was not trafficking drugs solely to feed an addiction. He was motivated by, and did, profit.

“There is no indication that the accused’s delusions led in any way to his decision to facilitate a three-kilogram methamphetamine transaction,” Pfeutzner said.

» Winnipeg Free Press

While at Teen Challenge, Cerezo-Brennan assumed a leadership role, was a “dedicated” worker at Lighthouse Mission, and expressed interest in becoming a pastor, court was told at his sentencing.

While Cerezo-Brennan’s rehabilitative efforts are “highly mitigating,” Chapman “unreasonably overemphasized” them at the expense of denunciation and deterrence, the appeal court said, replacing Chapman’s sentence with one of 44 months in prison.

“I agree with the Crown that, but for the accused’s rehabilitation, a sentence of about eight years would be fit,” Pfeutzner said.

Cerezo-Brennan received credit for time served, reducing his remaining sentence to three years.

» Winnipeg Free Press