Pubdate: Tue, 24 Sep 2002 Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON) Copyright: 2002 The Ottawa Citizen Contact: http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326 Author: Shannon Kari, The Ottawa Citizen CHARGES STAYED IN $3.9M DRUG HAUL Ruling Another Blow to Government Record in Drug Prosecutions TORONTO -- An Ontario Superior Court judge has thrown out all charges against a Toronto man arrested in the March 1999 seizure of $3.9 million of marijuana, LSD and hashish, because the case took too long to get to trial. Justice Russell Juriansz ordered a judicial stay Monday and ruled the delays violated Roman Paryniuk's right to be tried "within a reasonable time," as required by section 11(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Paryniuk's co-counsel, Del Doucette, rejected suggestions the charges were stayed as a result of a legal technicality. "The huge delay was because of the Crown's reluctance to make full and frank disclosure," he said. Paryniuk has been free on bail since shortly after his arrest, but Doucette said the judge's decision to stay the charges was appropriate. "If the average person is charged with a criminal offence, that turned their lives upside down and it takes 31/2 years to come to trial because of the Crown, that's unfair," he said. The ruling is another blow to the Department of Justice, which has already been forced to withdraw or put on hold at least 150 drug prosecutions in the past three years, because of a corruption scandal in the Toronto police force. For more than a year, an RCMP-led task force has continued to investigate numerous allegations against the now disbanded Central Field Command drug squad. Several officers are accused of stealing money and valuables and assaulting and even kidnapping people during drug raids in the late 1990s. At least six civil suits, asking for more than $17 million in damages, have been filed against the former drug squad officers. One of the civil claims was settled this spring, but the Toronto police services board has refused to release any details about the agreement. Paryniuk has also claimed drug squad officers stole about $330,000 while executing a search warrant on a safety deposit box at a CIBC branch in downtown Toronto, on March 19, 1999. Lawyers for Paryniuk said the case was delayed mainly because the Justice Department refused to provide disclosure about a criminal investigation into Det. Const. Mark Denton until ordered to do so by a judge. Const. Denton, the "exhibits officer" in the Paryniuk investigation, was charged in November 1999 when 141 grams of hashish were found in a gym bag in his van after he was stopped by police just outside Toronto. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake