Man who jumped from window during police search found not guilty of drug trafficking

A Yellowknife judge found two men, one of whom had jumped from an apartment window during a police search, not guilty Wednesday of trafficking crack cocaine.

The two were arrested and charged in 2015, when after months of surveillance, police executed a search warrant at a unit in Fort Gary apartments on Gitzel Street.

Inside they found one of the accused as well as cash and drug paraphernalia like scales and baggies.

Outside the apartment, police found a second accused who had broken one of his vertebrae after jumping out of the apartment window. Police also found three bags containing a large quantity of crack cocaine that had been thrown from the apartment.

Both men claimed the drugs weren't theirs and that they didn't live in the unit. Police found no clothes or personal items that belonged to either man. However, they discovered that the man who broke his back jumping from the window was paying all the bills for the apartment.

In his decision, Justice Andrew Mahar said the case was built on purely circumstantial evidence. He found there wasn't enough evidence that the drugs belonged to the men.

The man who jumped from the window was convicted of a lesser charge of possession as he was found with just under two grams of cocaine on him.

He is set to be sentenced on Friday.