HALIFAX - The trial judge who convicted former Crown attorney Anne Calder of smuggling drugs into a Halifax jail made a "multitude of errors" in his decision, Calder's lawyer told the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal on Thursday.

Craig Garson told the three-member panel of justices that Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge Kevin Coady had "misapprehended" a litany of evidence before he sentenced Calder in June to 30 months in prison on three drug charges.

In particular, Garson said Coady failed to grasp the evidence of psychiatrist Dr. Edwin Rosenberg, who had diagnosed Calder with a major depressive disorder and a personality disorder.

The defence lawyer said the judge didn't take into account that Rosenberg had concluded Calder was unfit to do her job in the months leading up to her arrest on July 14, 2009.

He said Rosenberg's conclusion meant Calder was incapable of forming the intent required for a conviction.

During her trial, court was shown a surveillance video that shows Calder secretly passing an envelope to her client, inmate Thomas Izzard, while the two were in an interview room at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility.

Court heard the package contained loose tobacco and hydromorphone, a painkiller better known as Dilaudid. Police later found two other packages containing drugs at her home.

Calder was charged with trafficking in hydromorphone and possession of hydromorphone and marijuana for the purpose of trafficking.

Calder testified that the package came to her through the mail from an anonymous source who asked that it be delivered to Izzard. She told police that she believed the package contained only tobacco, which is still considered contraband by corrections officials.

She said she brought the package to Izzard because she felt guilty about missing an earlier appointment.

During her trial, court heard that Calder appeared to be coping well until 2008, when her father died and her work as a criminal defence lawyer increased to the point where she was working 60 hours a week. Although she was taking medication and seeing mental health professionals, it wasn't enough, Garson told the court.

On Thursday, Garson said the judge was wrong to assume that Calder's 15 years of experience as a criminal lawyer meant it was inconceivable that she would not suspect the package she handed to Izzard contained illicit drugs.

"The problem here is that you can't measure someone with this degree of mental illness and compare her with what another lawyer would do," he told the court. "It's totally wrong."

Garson also said the judge failed to take into account Rosenberg's assertion that Calder's claims were consistent with her personality disorder, which prompted her to go to extreme lengths to seek the approval of others.

"The starting point is the mental illness," he said.

However, the trial judge disregarded the psychiatrist's evidence and accepted the Crown's position that Calder was a "cold and calculated drug dealer," Garson said.

As well, the judge failed to take into account at least a dozen other points of evidence that pertained to Calder's credibility, Garson added.

Calder, who is out on bail, sat quietly in the public gallery, sometimes dabbing her eyes with a tissue.

Crown lawyer Paul Adams said there was no evidence that Calder's mental illness left her incapable of accessing the knowledge and experience she had gained during he legal career.

In the end, Garson failed to point to errors in law that would leave the original verdict on shaky ground, Adams said.

If the court accepted Garson's "microscopic dissection" of the case, it would hold the trial judge to an "absolute standard of perfection," he said.

Justice Jamie Saunders said the court would render its decision at a later date.