Alcohol & Drugs: MIP, MIC, Intoxication Importing

[jaaam]

My jurisdiction is: Ontario

My friend has been caught in Toronto importing 500g of Heroin across the border. She is disabled from birth and can not afford to go to trial in a few months because she is on a disability pension and can not work physically. Is there any way that she can get help with funds to travel to Toronto since she does not live in that city.
She previously went to trial last year but the crown and judge told her to go home the next day becasue my lawyer at the time said it looked good for 2 year condtional sentence,since she would not be able to manage in jail physically. But now is a different crown and she has a new lawyer now, they are asking for 9 years with out any conditional. Is this fair?,Does she not have rights? can it change just because there is a different crown and they are unaware of the conversations from the last crown? I have heard of people getting off with 2 or 3 year sentence with 10 times more than she had or a man was charged with man slauter getting less time?Is this for real?
Is there a law or anything helping disabled people out in these situations?Can anyone help

 

[dee_dub]

If she can't get afford a lawyer, she might qualify for legal aid. I'm not sure how being disabled means she "can't afford" to go to trial. If she's not working and is collecting disability, isn't she actually in a better position than someone who IS working?

I'm not aware of any provincial programs to assist low-income or disabled persons to travel for court dates. She might look into having the charges transferred to a court closer to where she lives.

The Crown is not bound by what her previous lawyer said. (I note it was HER lawyer saying he thought she would get a two-year CS, not the Crown.) Nor is it bound by what a previous Crown may have thought appropriate, unless there was an agreement in place. The sentence doesn't change "just because" the new Crown is unaware of the previous discussion - it changes because the new Crown, her lawyer, and the judge have different ideas than her old lawyer about what an appropriate sentence is.

Sentencing is highly fact sensitive. There are very few hard and fast rules. The court has to not only consider the nature of the crime but any extenuating circumstances, mitigating and exacerbating factors, etc. It's impossible to guess what a reasonable sentence might be in the circumstances, but its entirely possible it is more harsh than a sentence for manslaughter.