LEGAL EXPERTS TO INVESTIGATE ONTARIO CRIMINAL PROSECUTIONS

Two prominent legal experts will lead a review of how Ontario
prosecutes complex criminal cases -- but the attorney general says the
recent collapse of a massive corruption trial involving Toronto police
drug squad officers won't be part of their investigation.

"I'm looking forward, not backwards," Chris Bentley said yesterday in
announcing Patrick Lesage, former chief justice of the Superior Court
of Justice, and Michael Code, a University of Toronto law professor,
will lead a "focused" six-month investigation.

Critics have alleged the corruption case and the failure of other
high-profile prosecutions, including the tainted blood trial, point to
mismanagement and poor judgment within the criminal law division of
the Ministry of the Attorney General, which handles all big
prosecutions in Ontario.

While lauding the appointment of two men with extensive experience in
Crown operations to review systemic problems, critics accused Bentley
of shirking his duty to give the public an explanation of what went
wrong in the corruption case.

Bentley said the review wasn't triggered by any particular
case.

"I think it would be fair to say there have been concerns by many that
large, complex criminal cases for some time have posed problems," he
said.

Lesage and Code "will be free to take a look at cases that are no
longer in the system," said Bentley. That would rule out the police
case, which is under appeal.

Charges against six drug squad officers were thrown out of court last
month by Superior Court Justice Ian Nordheimer, who ruled a 10-year
delay in bringing the case to trial violated their constitutional
right to a trial within a reasonable time.