Defence lawyer awaits unsealing of warrant used in Saint John pot raids

A lawyer defending two of the people charged with drug trafficking after Saint John police raidedmarijuana dispensaries this year says she's still waiting for the unsealed warrant.

Laura Mccarthy said it can be a slow process because the person who put together the information used to get the warrant has to vet it to remove sensitive or privileged information.

After the grounds for the warrant have been vetted, the unsealing of that information must be granted by a judge, Mccarthy, outside court on Wednesday.

Crown Prosecutor Patrick Wilbur said a date hasn't been set for taking the defence request to a judge.

Sarah Deering, 27, and Ryan Francis, 31, were both scheduled to enter pleas on Wednesday, but only Francis appeared in court.

However, as happened with their last court appearance, the case was adjourned, this time until Sept. 18.

Mccarthy said anumber of thingscan be revealedonce a warrant is unsealed.

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"Sometimes people will make applications to say the warrant was unjustly granted, the information wasn't accurate, wasn't sufficient," said Mccarthy, who is based in Halifax.

Defence lawyers also like to see warrants unsealed in case there were Charter of Rights issues involved in obtaining them, she said.

She said she was surprisedthe lawyers for the other nine people chargedafter dispensary raidshaven't also requested the warrants be unsealed.

"There might be a few and far between cases that involve warrants where I wouldn't request it," Mccarthy said. "It's the default that I would."