By Andrew de Souza

Man gets two years for cocaine trafficking

Aug 10, 2011 | 6:32 AM

A Prince Albert man was sentenced to two years less a day for drug charges, Tuesday.

Brody Aaron Markowski, 21, from Prince Albert pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with the intent to traffic, possession of marijuana and two counts of breaching probation.

The court heard that on Oct. 27, 2010, police executed a search warrant on a home and found Markowski and another man is the basement.

During the search, police found 23 grams of cocaine, 46 grams of marijuana, drug paraphernalia and $1,000 in cash.

Markowski and the other man, 21-year-old Blaine Sanderson were both arrested.

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After several months of court proceedings, Markowski appeared in Prince Albert Provincial Court for his sentencing hearing.

His lawyer Mary McCauley asked for a conditional sentence, while the crown prosecutor Allicia Hunter wanted an 18-month term in the provincial correctional centre.

McCauley said a conditional sentence was appropriate because, since the incident, Markowski had completed high school and some college, as well had run a successful business and attended some counseling.

“He’s trying to be a contributing member of society,” she said.

Judge Ferris ultimately denied the idea of a conditional sentence because precedent showed that it could only be given to those with no criminal records and had other mitigating factors.

He said that didn’t apply to Markowski, who had accumulated 26 prior charges, of which six were drug offences and who was also facing two charges for breaching conditions while on bail for the current drug charges.

“It seems to me that it’s clear that the defendant was involved in a commercial operation … though on a small scale,” Ferris said.

“I’m of the view that he would all too quickly revert to his old behavior and commit offences.”

In the end, Ferris agreed with neither lawyer for Markowski’s term and sentenced him to two years less a day to be served in a provincial facility for the cocaine charge. As well he was sentenced to six months for the marijuana possession charge and two month for each of the two breach charges to be served concurrently.

Blaine Sanderson, Markowski’s co-accused was sentenced in April.

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