TOP CRIMINAL LAWYERS SAY PROVINCE GOING TOO FAR

One of the country's top criminal lawyers says the province would violate
constitutional rights by passing a law allowing police to seize assets
belonging to suspected members of organized crime. John Rosen says the
proposed law -- which would allow police to seize everything from cash, to
cars, to companies before an accused is convicted in criminal court -- is
"an outrageous piece of legislation" that "erodes individual rights" and
"presumes guilt."

The Toronto lawyer says such a law would allow police to make seizures
based only on their opinion and it would strip away the right to a hearing
or to confront one's accusers. Only a criminal court can determine if
someone is a member of organized crime, he says.

Attorney General Jim Flaherty announced yesterday he will introduce his
civil asset-forfeiture law before Christmas, with the hopes of making
Ontario the first province in Canada to adopt this sort of legislative
effort to crack down on organized crime.

In August, Flaherty sponsored an international summit on organized crime,
during which experts from the U.S., Ireland, Wales and South Africa talked
about civil asset-forfeiture laws in their countries. A summary of that
conference was released yesterday.

Rosen says stakeholders and critics were not included in Flaherty's summit,
nor in any discussions he's had on the forfeiture subject. If they had been
asked, criminal lawyers would have told Flaherty his idea contravenes the
Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

"Once again our attorney general has gone out on a political limb and is
about to saw the branch off," Rosen said. The lawyer has defended a number
of suspected organized crime members. Most recently, he acted for Angelo
Musitano on charges of conspiring to kill crime associate Carmen Barillaro.
Hamilton lawyer Dean Paquette represented Angelo's brother, Pasquale, on
the same charge.

They pleaded guilty and were sentenced to 10 years in prison. Rosen says
Flaherty is pushing criminal law hot buttons to win support.

The legislation would allow for both civil and criminal approaches to
fighting organized crime, says Hamilton-Wentworth Police Chief Ken Robertson.

If a suspected Mafia member or outlaw biker is charged with drug
trafficking, police can seize the car he used to transport the drugs and
the house he bought with the drug money, Robertson says.

Right now, there are federal proceeds of crime laws in place that allow for
the same sorts of seizures, but not until after a conviction, which
Robertson says could take years to get.

A former organized crime investigator himself, the chief says civil
asset-forfeiture laws have withstood legal challenges in other countries
and will stand up against the "naysayers" who will criticize the proposal
in Ontario.

Paquette says police may abuse the law knowing that anything they seize
will be placed into anti-mob coffers and funds for victims of crimes. That
division has already been suggested by the province and it creates an
immediate conflict of interest, he says.

"It's seen as a means of obtaining income or funding for police," he said.
"It's like holding a carrot out to the police agencies to enforce it."

He is doubtful the law will get past first reading in the Ontario
legislature, however, because he believes it is based on a complete
misrepresentation of the division of powers.

While Ontario has control over property rights, he says, the proposed law
isn't really about property but about criminal justice, and that's the
jurisdiction of Ottawa. Paquette believes the province doesn't even have
the power to legislate such a law.