Former Kamloops Mountie charged with dealing drugs chooses trial by jury

Oct 13, 2016 | 10:22 AM

KAMLOOPS — A former Kamloops RCMP officer, charged with three counts of trafficking cocaine last summer, has elected to be tried by a judge and jury.

Randi Love did not appear in Provincial Court today, but her lawyer Brad Smith made the election on her behalf.

Lawyers will meet again on October 20, to set a date for a one-day preliminary inquiry.

A date for a trial, which is expected to take three days, would be decided after that.

“If the Crown is able to satisfy the court that the case should be committed for trial, then it’ll go to the Supreme Court and that’s where the trial will happen,” said Smith. 

“At this stage, the plea isn’t formally taken. That would normally happen in the Supreme Court but only if the case gets past the preliminary inquiry stage. But you can effectively take from what happened today that she’s not pleading guilty at this point.”

The 40 year old Love is charged with three counts of trafficking cocaine, with the alleged offences dating back to June of 2015.

Love was suspended from duty one month after an investigation was launched and she formally resigned from the force the following October.

Love is not in custody and, to this point, has had a lawyer appear in court on her behalf.