Pubdate: Mon, 04 Feb 2008 Source: National Post (Canada) Copyright: 2008 Southam Inc. Contact: http://www.nationalpost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286 Author: Shannon Kari Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?236 (Corruption - Outside U.S.) CITY LIKELY TO FACE HEFTY TAB IN POLICE CASE Charges Dropped The city of Toronto is likely to face a multi-million-dollar bill to compensate the lawyers who represented six former drug squad officers whose corruption charges were stayed last week because of unreasonable delay by the Crown. The legal tab is in addition to the estimated tens of millions of dollars spent by all levels of government over the past decade as a result of what has been described as the largest police corruption investigation in Canadian history. The investigation led to obstruction of justice, perjury, extortion, theft and assault charges being filed in January, 2004, against John Schertzer, Steve Correia, Raymond Pollard, Ned Maodus, Joseph Miched and Rick Benoit. Those charges were stayed by Superior Court Justice Ian Nordheimer last week because of the "glacial progress" of the prosecution that violated the officers' right to a trial within a reasonable amount of time. "I have strived to find any sense of urgency on the part of the prosecution in this case, or any apparent recognition that this case was teetering on the precipice of unreasonable delay," wrote Judge Nordheimer. "I can find none on the record before me." The staying of the criminal charges is just one aspect of the corruption scandal over the past decade, most of which has not been disclosed to the public in any great detail. The allegations against Toronto drug squad officers resulted in federal prosecutors staying or dismissing charges between 1996 and 2002 against defendants in more than 200 prosecutions in the Toronto area--from minor cases to one involving a $50-million heroin seizure. The Department of Justice has always declined to provide specific reasons for staying the charges, which between 1996 and 1999, included more than 80% of the cases involving the unit led by Mr. Schertzer. At least three lawsuits filed by suspected drug dealers who alleged they were assaulted and robbed by members of the now disbanded Central Field Command drug squad have been settled out of court by the city without the terms being disclosed. A $95-million abuse of process lawsuit filed in 2003 against Toronto police, the city and the province by eight former drug squad officers has been on hold until the end of the criminal proceeding. The ruling by Judge Nordheimer could bolster the officers' chances of financial success in the civil suit. The staying of the criminal charges means that the city will almost certainly have to pay the legal bills of the six officers. The decision is up to the Toronto Police Services Board, which normally covers legal costs for officers who are acquitted or when charges are dismissed. Mr. Schertzer and his co-defendants were represented by a legal team of some of the most experienced defence lawyers in the province. John Rosen, Earl Levy, Harry Black, Alan Gold, Patrick Ducharme and Peter Brauti all have reputations as savvy trial lawyers. Each of the officers was also represented by a junior lawyer in addition to lead counsel. The three-lawyer prosecution team was led by Milan Rupic, a senior Crown attorney in the Ministry of the Attorney-General, who is known as a skilled appeal lawyer, yet he has not conducted many trials in the past decade. The legal bill is another blow to Toronto taxpayers, suggested Edward Sapiano, one of nine lawyers who first raised the corruption allegations in a letter to internal affairs in 1999. "The province drops the ball and now the city has to pick up the tab," said Mr. Sapiano. While he has been one of the most outspoken critics of the former drug squad, Mr. Sapiano said the Crown should not appeal the ruling by Judge Nordheimer. "He did the right thing," said Mr. Sapiano. "The Ministry of the Attorney-General could not have better orchestrated delay in this case than if it intentionally orchestrated delay." A spokeswoman for the Attorney-General said yesterday that no one could comment on the details of the case and that ministry staff were investigating the possibility of an appeal. Mr. Sapiano repeated his call for an inquiry to try to find out what went wrong in the prosecution and to make public many unanswered questions related to the corruption allegations. RCMP Assistant Commissioner John Neily, who led the Toronto police task force, recommended that 12 drug squad officers be charged, according to affidavits unsealed by the Ontario Court of Appeal in 2004. The Crown has not disclosed why it charged only six. When the task force began its work, it was not receiving co-operation from the federal Department of Justice, which prosecutes drug offences, said Asst. Comm. Neily in one of the affidavits. In a 2003 letter, which was highlighted by Judge Nordheimer in his ruling, the senior RCMP officer also complained of a lack of response from the provincial Crown, which was responsible for prosecuting the drug squad officers. "This is the largest police corruption scandal known in Canadian history yet if anyone asks me what the Crown's reaction is, I could not provide the answer," wrote Asst. Comm. Neily. The work of the task force did not escape criticism and the actions of some of the investigators weakened the prosecution case against the officers. Key evidence from police memo books and other documents seized at the home of Maodus in March 2002 were excluded from the corruption trial, in part because two task force investigators improperly asked to secretly "tag along" with an Ontario Provincial Police search of the residence. The OPP search related to an assault complaint against Maodus. In a separate trial last year, Superior Court Justice Casey Hill excluded the seizure of an unregistered Glock handgun, 45 grams of cocaine and nearly four grams of heroin from evidence because of Charter violations in the police search. As part of a plea bargain, Maodus pleaded guilty in August 2007 to assault causing bodily harm, uttering a threat and pointing a firearm. Judge Hill imposed a two-year conditional sentence. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom