A dealer in drugs and guns sentenced to 20 years after the country’s largest seizure of the deadly drug carfentanil has been granted bail by a judge of Ontario’s highest court, pending an appeal of his conviction.
Maisum Ansari was released as Parliament prepares to debate a government bill that would toughen bail laws, and as an opioid epidemic continues to kill Canadians in the thousands each year.
He was convicted in February of possession for the purpose of trafficking after police seized 33 firearms and 26.5 kilograms of carfentanil from a basement apartment he owned. Prosecutors portrayed him as a cog in the enterprise, not a mastermind. Babar Ali, the man who lived in the Pickering unit, east of Toronto, pleaded guilty and received 23 years. Mr. Ansari denies knowing about the drugs or the guns.
At Mr. Ansari’s trial, forensic toxicologist Karen Woodall described the opioid carfentanil as up to 100 times stronger than fentanyl, and up to 10,000 times stronger than morphine, adding that it has been implicated in many deaths.
The right to reasonable bail is protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and independent judges decide how to apply it case by case. The proposed new bail law focuses on repeat violent offenders, and would not have directly applied to the Ansari case, as the drugs and guns convictions were his first. Even so, the ruling affirms broad principles, such as the overwhelming importance of a credible release plan, likely to weigh heavily in bail cases under the proposed law.
The right is connected to the presumption of innocence. But after conviction, as in Mr. Ansari’s case, the presumption does not apply.
Still, Justice Steve Coroza of the Ontario Court of Appeal – himself a former drug prosecutor – said that while the seriousness of Mr. Ansari’s offences and the long sentence were important considerations, they “do not foreclose the appellant’s ability to obtain bail pending appeal.”
Mr. Ansari “has satisfied me that his release is consistent with the just and proper functioning of our justice system,” he wrote, in a ruling released last Thursday.
Among the reasons he gave was that Mr. Ansari put forward an acceptable release plan in which his parents, and a family friend, would supervise. Also, he had been on bail for five and a half years while criminal proceedings unfolded with just one incident: an assault against his ex-wife and her new partner, for which he received a conditional discharge and continued to be on bail.
One factor to be considered in appeals pending conviction is whether the appeal has a real chance to succeed. And as in all bail applications, the court must consider whether the offender is a flight risk and a danger to public safety and, even if they aren’t, whether their release will undermine public confidence in the justice system.
The federal prosecution service, which handles drug crimes, had sought a life sentence at trial. It objected to Mr. Ansari’s request for bail pending his appeal, saying that the evidence against him was overwhelming and that given the 20-year sentence there is a marked risk that Mr. Ansari will flee. The prosecution is seeking a longer sentence in its own appeal, an even bigger incentive to run off, it argued.
But Justice Coroza, who was appointed by the Liberal government in 2020, said that the risk of Mr. Ansari absconding was “remote.” He offered several reasons: that Mr. Ansari needs to work to support his children, that his parents had put up substantial money to guarantee he would show up to court, and that he did not abscond in the three months between being found guilty and being sentenced.
Justice Coroza also noted that the Crown had not argued he was a flight risk during those years – not even when Mr. Ansari was convicted of assaulting his ex-wife and her partner. Mr. Ansari’s lenient punishment probably reflected the seriousness of that crime, he said.
On the question of how release would affect public confidence, Justice Coroza called it “a close call,” but concluded that a reasonable member of the public, aware of the circumstances, would not lose trust.
The Public Prosecution Service of Canada declined to comment while the appeal is before the court, as did Rameez Sewani, a lawyer for Mr. Ansari.
Veteran criminal-defence lawyer Boris Bytensky, who was not involved in the case, said the ruling turned on its facts, such as the prosecution not seeking to revoke bail after Mr. Ansari was convicted.
“If you look at it from a public-safety perspective, I don’t think this case raises any concerns, because on the facts, we’re not talking about somebody accused of ever having had actual possession of firearms or drugs. … You’re not letting a guy that’s walking around with guns back on the street.”