Halifax lawyer Anne Calder was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday morning but it wasn’t just for another day’s work – it was for her own arraignment.
But Calder, the former Crown attorney accused of smuggling drugs to a client in jail, was a no show and instead sent defence lawyer Craig Garson to appear on her behalf.
Garson told Judge Frank Hoskins in Dartmouth provincial court that Calder has waived her right to a preliminary inquiry and wishes to be tried by judge and jury.
It was also decided Calder would appear Sept. 17 in Nova Scotia Supreme Court to have dates set for her trial. Neither Garson nor federal Crown attorney Paul Adams would comment to the media following the brief courtroom exchange.
Calder, 56, was initially charged with trafficking the painkiller hydromorphone, after guards allegedly caught her passing a package containing drugs to an inmate during a meeting July 14 inside the Central Nova Scotia Correction Facility in Dartmouth.
Halifax Regional Police have since laid additional charges of possession of hydromorphone for the purpose of trafficking and possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking, after investigators searched the defence lawyer’s west-end Halifax home.
The Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society posted a notice on its website July 22 stating Calder “has ceased the practice of law . . . until further notice.”
