JUDGE REBUKES NIAGARA POLICE

Grow-Op Charges Stayed by Justice

A judge has stayed charges against two men who were accused in
Niagara's largest-ever pot bust, and has blasted senior Niagara
Regional Police officers -- including Chief Wendy Southall -- for
doing nothing about what he called misconduct by three cops.

In a scathing written decision Tuesday, Judge Peter Hambly maintained
the three officers who spearheaded a May 2008 grow op bust that
netted $16 million in marijuana and eight suspects deliberately hid
the name of a tipster who led them to the illegal enterprise from the courts.

Hambly said the officers -- Det. Sgt James Leigh, Det. James Malloy
and Det. Chris Lemaich -- followed a tip from a Hamilton police
officer that helped them uncover more than 15,000 pot plants at
several locations in Lincoln, Thorold and Wainfleet.

But instead of naming their source -- Det. Aivars Jekabsons -- the
three Niagara officers made no mention of him in notes they provided
the Crown and said the tip came from an anonymous source.

None of the officers named could be reached for comment by
mid-evening Wednesday.

Hambly said Leigh, who was in charge of the NRP's morality unit at
the time, made the decision to keep the Hamilton officer's name out
of the case after he told him he had relatives living in the Lincoln
area and was concerned organized crime could be behind the operation.

The judge also said Malloy swore under oath in court that the source
was anonymous, even though he knew he wasn't telling the truth.

"If police lying is tolerated by the courts, they will soon lose the
respect of the community," Hambly wrote in the 38-page decision.

Hambly said it's vital police officers are obligated to provide all
evidence they gather in support of a case to the Crown.

"It is only then that the Crown will be in a position to decide
whether the law requires that the evidence be disclosed to the
defence," he wrote.

Hambly said Chief Southall and other senior NRP officers "appeared to
be indifferent" to the officers covering up the tipster's name and
keeping it out of their official notes.

"Senior officers have taken no action. The Chief of Police, who now
knows what has taken place, has taken no action," he wrote. "If the
court does not refuse to hear the case, this will be an invitation to
the police to continue to record in their notes what they choose and
to disclose to the Crown, and hence to the defence, what they choose."

The issue came to light during a preliminary hearing for two of the
men rounded up as suspects in the huge grow op.

Hambly said the lack of disclosure by police left him no option but
to stay charges against Massimo Spagnoli of St. Catharines and John
Shore of Pelham. Both men were scheduled to stand trial Sept. 26 on
charges of production of marijuana, possession of marijuana for the
purpose of trafficking and theft of electricity.

"The charges are serious ... For the people involved in it to go
unpunished leaves a sense of betrayal in hard-working law-abiding
people," Hambly wrote.

However, the judge said he's hopeful staying the charges will act as
a deterrent to NRP officers from withholding evidence and testifying
falsely under oath in the future.

"The accused will reap a 'windfall,'" he said. "However, it is my
opinion that the 'price' of a stay of the charges against these
accused is 'worth the gain.'"

Chief Southall has asked Halton Regional Police to investigate the
conduct of the three NRP officers, as well as the service's policies,
Niagara Regional Police said in a news release Wednesday.

"Since the latter is now under investigation, the Niagara Regional
Police Service is unable to provide any additional comment on the
matter," the statement said.