Discharged from Gun Charges — R. v. D. M.

D.M. and three of his friends were approached by police.  D.M. was the passenger in a car. Police claimed they saw the butt of a handgun, poking out from beneath the driver’s seat. They arrested all of the people in the car.  It turned out that the item in question was only a replica handgun, but there was a real gun under the passenger seat. At the preliminary inquiry, cross-examination of the police officers suggested that there was no way D.M. could have known about the gun under his seat.  He was discharged at the preliminary inquiry.