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Eventually, Doherty urged Derstine to get into the specifics of why he was arguing the law was unconstitutional, saying the focus of Derstine’s arguments thus far seemed to be “this is a bad law.”

“Speaking for myself, you’re not going to have that hard a time convincing me of that,” Doherty said.

However, Doherty seemed far less convinced of the merits of the specific case of Leroy Smickle, the one case in which the trial judge struck down the three-year mandatory minimum as unconstitutional.

Smickle was caught alone in his boxers in his cousin’s apartment posing with a loaded handgun while taking pictures of himself on a webcam to post on Facebook. The police burst in looking for his cousin and illegal weapons and a surprised Smickle dropped the gun.

Here there’s a very real danger that somebody was going to end up shot. … [He’s] the exact guy the minimum was aimed at

The Crown is taking issue with Judge Anne Molloy’s findings of fact and her characterization of Smickle’s behaviour as “adolescent preening.”

He was no adolescent, Smickle’s lawyer Mark Halfyard conceded.

“It’s not becoming of someone who’s 27 years old, engaged to be married and has two kids,” he said. “It’s colossally stupid.”

But Doherty’s assessment of Smickle’s actions went beyond that, with the judge noting the gun was not just loaded but cocked and could have easily gone off when it was dropped, killing or injuring Smickle, the police officers or a neighbour.

“He’s not picking up a gun the way you pick up a pop,” Doherty said. “It’s very easy to kill somebody.”

The offence is a “prophylactic” one, allowing police to intervene “before someone is lying dead on the floor,” Doherty said.