TRIAL FOR DRUG SQUAD 6

Extortion And Assault Are Among The Allegations
Officers Suspended With Pay After 2004 Charges

Six members of an elite drug squad of the Toronto police have been
ordered to stand trial on charges including extortion and assault in
what has been called the biggest case of alleged corruption in the
force's history.

In sending the suspended officers from the unit known as the Central
Field Command to trial, Justice James Blacklock told an Old City Hall
courtroom yesterday he had doubts about some of the witnesses.

"It is clear to me there are very real questions of credibility in
reference to a significant number of Crown witnesses," the Ontario
Court of Justice judge said in his ruling following a preliminary
hearing that started six months ago.

A publication ban prohibits the media from reporting on evidence heard
at the hearing, including testimony from some of the people the unit
investigated when they were in operation from 1997 to 2002. The
officers -- Staff Sgt. John Schertzer, the leader of the unit, and
Constables Steven Correia, Joseph Miched, Ned Maodus, Raymond Pollard
and Richard Benoit -- were suspended with pay after they were charged
in early 2004.

The officers were originally charged in 2000, but the Crown didn't
proceed with those charges after then-Chief Julian Fantino set up a
special task force to probe allegations of corruption in the force.

The officers were recharged two years ago with offences ranging from
assault to extortion and attempting to obstruct justice.

Included in the charges are allegations the officers took money from a
safety deposit box of one of the people they were investigating.

The investigation into the squad was headed up by the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police; a probe estimated to cost about $3 million and
generating some 560,000 pages of evidence.

It was also alleged that the officers -- with a combined total of 113
years of experience -- allegedly lied in court and made up bogus search
warrants.

Blacklock told the court that a judge at a preliminary hearing had a
"narrow function" -- to decide if a "reasonable jury, properly
instructed" could decide on a verdict of guilty at a trial.

He said there was "some evidence" on which the officers could possibly
be found guilty. But he pointed out that the accused officers were
still "clothed" in the presumption of innocence.

Peter Brauti, the lawyer for Miched, said later he was "encouraged" by
the judge's opening remarks on the strength of the Crown's case. "I
fully anticipate they will be cleared of these allegations and be back
to work," said Brauti.

Blacklock also dropped conspiracy charges against Benoit, citing a
lack of evidence. He still faces charges of assault and extortion
involving one of the witnesses at the trial.

His lawyer, Alan Gold, said later that he will be seeking a separate
trial for Benoit after the judge found there wasn't any evidence
linking him to the other accused in the allegations of a general
conspiracy to obstruct justice.

Another appearance and a date for trial will be set on June 21.