Evidence lost in case of soldier accused of feeding cannabis-laced cupcakes to gunners, lawyer says
Evidence in a bizarre case of a Canadian soldier accused of drugging comrades with marijuana-laced cupcakes was lost by military police, says the soldier's lawyer — who accuses the Department of National Defence of conducting a sloppy, incompetent investigation.
Bombardier Chelsea Cogswell's military trial is slated to start next month. It's believed to be the first of its kind.
She faces 18 charges, including administering a noxious substance to eight soldiers without their consent in July 2018 at CFB Gagetown. At the time, the soldiers were taking part in a live-fire exercise involving explosives and weapons drills.
CBC News has obtained a copy of a court application filed by Cogswell's lawyer Ian Kasper. In it, Kasper argues the military should throw out evidence of traces of THC — the main psychoactive compound in cannabis — gathered from one cupcake wrapper because the other cupcake wrappers were lost and never tested.
"The chain of command and the military police did not preserve all the wrappers for further investigation," Kasper wrote in the application. "The loss of such important evidence was the result of incompetence.
"The chain of command's loss of the cupcake wrappers was so shockingly negligent as to constitute an abuse of process.".......
.........Cogswell's unusual case made headlines around the world. The Department of National Defence has said it's believed to be the first case of a soldier charged with feeding marijuana to colleagues without their consent.
Cogswell's mother told CBC News strangers have bombarded her with hate messages online and she found her vehicle keyed in her driveway on one occasion.......
'Loopy, anxious and paranoid'
At the time of the incident on July 21, 2018, Cogswell was working at a mobile canteen at the army's combat training centre in New Brunswick, according to court martial documents.
Cogswell offered some troops from the gun detachment free cupcakes she had baked that she said contained coconut oil and avocados, according to the document. At least nine soldiers ate the cupcakes; within an hour, some described feeling "high," the court martial documents said.
"They variously described feeling tired, exhausted, loopy, anxious and paranoid," said Kasper's court document. "Others, however, believed they were dehydrated or were suffering heat exhaustion."
Citing safety concerns, the military called off the live fire training exercise on that hot summer day and loaded those affected into an air-conditioned truck for assessment. A medical technician on scene ruled out heat injuries, according to the documents.
The commanding officer called in military police to investigate the possibility that "the members of the artillery school were suffering from mind-altering drugs while on a live fire exercise,"
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