Pubdate: Wed, 5 Jan 2000
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2000, The Toronto Star
Page: A4
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Author: Tracey Tyler, Toronto Star Legal Affairs Reporter

MAN FREED OVER HIDDEN EVIDENCE

Judge Says RCMP Broke The Law In Big Drug Case

A man accused in a major drug trafficking operation walked free yesterday 
after a judge ruled the Royal Canadian Mounted Police flagrantly broke the 
law by concealing thousands of pages of key evidence from his defence lawyers.

In freeing Sauro Greganti, 44, Mr. Justice Walter Stayshyn of the Ontario 
Superior Court in Hamilton said federal prosecutors must share the blame 
for the Mounties' ``oppressive'' and ``obstructionist'' conduct, which 
could only offend most Canadians' sense of fair play and decency.

``I am shocked and dismayed that the RCMP, the chief federal police agency 
in Canada, would act in direct contravention of the clear law of Canada,'' 
Stayshyn said yesterday in what is believed to be one of the most strongly 
worded court rulings on misconduct by police and prosecutors.

``I know of no authority creating a secret police state permitting the 
withholding of vital defence disclosure,'' he said in staying the charges.

``The sins of the police are the sins of the prosecution.''

Greganti's lawyer, Eddie Greenspan, called the judge's ruling ``a 
millennial message to the RCMP.

``The courts will embarrass and humiliate them publicly if they fail to 
provide disclosure,'' he said.

Greganti, of Sault Ste. Marie, faced the prospect of life imprisonment if 
convicted on nine of the 12 charges laid against him in April, 1997, after 
a two-year investigation by more than 50 RCMP officers into an alleged drug 
trafficking operation involving large amounts of cocaine, hashish and hash oil.

On Nov. 14, 1997, on the eve of a preliminary hearing, federal prosecutor 
Brian Lawson assured Andrew Matheson, a lawyer at Greenspan's firm, that 
the ``overwhelming bulk'' of evidence had been disclosed.

One month later, more than 3,100 pages of never-mentioned police files 
arrived on their doorstep. Extensive disclosure, or so they thought.

Last Sept. 9, one day after Greganti's trial was to have begun, police and 
prosecutors delivered to the defence some 3,500 additional pages of 
investigative files, many of which the federal justice department had known 
about since 1991 and which could have undermined the crown's case.

The evidence included notes in which police repeatedly challenged the 
reliability of their own agent, Mario Briglio, who was supposed to be the 
key witness against Greganti.

Greganti, who spent seven months in custody until being granted bail, is 
scheduled to be back at the Hamilton courthouse with Greenspan on Tuesday 
to address the issue of costs against the RCMP and the federal government.
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