LAWYER ON JAIL DRUG CHARGE

A veteran criminal lawyer has been charged with marijuana trafficking after
drugs were allegedly smuggled into the Toronto (Don) Jail, police said
yesterday.

Harry Doan was arrested and released on bail yesterday after a court
appearance at Old City Hall. He could not be reached for comment.

Police allege that on July 23 an inmate at the infamous downtown jailhouse
was passed marijuana, a lighter and rolling papers.

Lawyers and their clients are allowed to have private meetings at the
facility. Lawyers are exempt from searches but inmates are strip-searched
before and after the meetings by jail guards. Doan has represented a wide
array of clients including members of the white supremacist group the
Heritage Front and its leader Wolfgang Droege, who was murdered last year.

His client roster also includes accused murderers, drug dealers and alleged
street gang members recently arrested as part of several Toronto police
anti-gang sweeps.

Doan is the second lawyer in recent years to face charges in alleged jail
drug-smuggling incidents.

In 2004, Toronto lawyer Raymond Li was sentenced to four years in
penitentiary for smuggling hashish, marijuana and heroin into the jail. Li
denied he was responsible.