PAST POLICE TRIALS

Only One Of Nine Convicted In Last Two Decades

At least nine Toronto police officers have been charged with criminal
offences in connection with the wounding or death of suspects during
the past two decades.

A single officer, Detective Constable Carl Sokolowski, was convicted
of the charges against him. He received an absolute discharge.

The other eight were found not guilty or had the charges against them
dismissed or withdrawn. In another case, an officer was cleared of
wrongdoing by a coroner's jury.

The cases include:

1998: Constable Robert Licop, charged with assault causing bodily harm
in connection with the 1997 shooting of Tony Andrade, 34, a mentally
ill man brandishing a length of wood, goes free after the crown
withdraws the charge.

1994: Constable Cameron Durham is found not guilty of careless use of
a firearm. He was charged in connection with the 1989 shooting of
Sophia Cook, then 23, who was left temporarily paralyzed.

1994: Detective Constable Carl Sokolowski is convicted by a judge,
deciding alone, on a charge of careless use of a firearm. Sokolowski,
who received an absolute discharge, was charged in connection with the
1991 shooting of 24-year-old Jonathan Howell, who was left permanently
disabled by the police bullet.

1993: Sergeant Douglas Lines, charged with criminal negligence causing
bodily harm, is found not guilty by a jury. Lines was charged after
robbery suspect Royan Bagnaut, then 20, was shot in the arm.

1991: Constable Brian Rapson is acquitted by a jury of charges of
attempted murder, aggravated assault and criminal negligence causing
bodily harm.

He had been charged in connection with the 1990 shooting of Marlon
Neal, a local teen who was wounded as he tried to run a Scarborough
radar trap.

1990: Constable David Deviney is found not guilty of manslaughter in
the 1989 death of Lester Donaldson, 44, shot while police were
responding to a call about a man bothering the neighbours.

1980: Constables William Inglis and Walter Cargnelli are acquitted in
the 1979 death of Albert Johnson, 35, shot in his home after police
were called because of a disturbance.

1980: Charges of careless use of a firearm, laid against Constable
Gary Mulholland after the 1979 wounding of Michael Sargent, 22, in
Scarborough, are dismissed.

1979: Constable John Clark was cleared of wrongdoing by a coroner's
inquest - at 11 weeks and $200,000, the longest and most expensive in
the city's history - in the 1978 shooting death of Buddy Evans outside
a King St. W. disco.

King was shot after he seized Clark's billy club and bashed him with
it over the head. While police never charged Clark - they decided to
wait for the coroner's verdict - his mother Doris Evans of Halifax had
tried unsuccessfully to lay such a charge while jurors
deliberated.

Had she been successful, the inquest would have come to an instant
end, and the jury's verdict never heard.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry