HALIFAX - Nova Scotia's highest court has dismissed an appeal sought by a former Crown attorney convicted of smuggling drugs into a Halifax jail.
Anne Calder's lawyer had argued the judge who convicted his client misunderstood the evidence of a psychiatrist who diagnosed Calder with a major depressive disorder and a personality disorder.
But the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, in a unanimous decision released Wednesday, said any evidence misapprehended by the judge was not crucial to the case.
"Not every misapprehension of the evidence by a judge who decides to convict gives rise to a miscarriage of justice," says the ruling, written by Justice M. Jill Hamilton.
"A conviction is a miscarriage of justice only when the misapprehension of the evidence relates to the substance and not merely the details of the evidence."
As well, the three-member panel of justices rejected an argument by defence lawyer Craig Garson that the trial judge erred by failing to consider the psychiatrist's evidence that Calder's testimony was consistent with someone suffering from a major depressive disorder.
"The record does not support Ms. Calder's argument that the judge failed to appreciate the magnitude of her psychiatric disorders," Hamilton wrote.
The panel also found the trial judge did not make errors in reaching his verdict, and he did not offer an unfit sentence.
Last June, Nova Scotia Supreme Court Judge Kevin Coady sentenced Calder to 30 months in prison on three drug charges.
Calder was convicted of trafficking in a prescription painkiller -- hydromorphone -- and possession of hydromorphone and marijuana for the purpose of trafficking.
During Calder's trial, court was shown a surveillance video from July 2009 that shows Calder secretly passing an envelope to a client in a Halifax jail.
Court heard the package contained loose tobacco and hydromorphone, which is better known as Dilaudid. Police later found two other packages containing drugs at Calder's home.
Calder testified that the packages came to her through the mail from an anonymous source who asked that they be delivered to Izzard. Calder told police that she believed the package contained only tobacco, which is still considered contraband by corrections officials.
She said she brought the one package to Izzard because she felt guilty about missing an earlier appointment.
During her trial, 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 her 15-year legal career.
