HEROIN CASE RIPPED

22-Month Wait for Trial

THE RIGHTS of a former Toronto cop turned drug dealer were violated
when he spent 22 months in jail awaiting trial on heroin trafficking
charges, his lawyer told court yesterday. Charges against Abraham
"Ace" Bailey should be stayed because of the almost two-year delay in
getting to trial, lawyer Harry Doan said.

Bailey was charged after 53 grams of heroin in baggies was allegedly
found in his throat. By the time he came to trial that amount of
heroin somehow had shrunk to three grams. The Crown has alleged that
the discrepancy in weight was due to packaging and blood
evaporation.

It is hard to believe three grams of heroin could be mistaken for 53
grams because of packaging and blood, Bailey's former lawyer, William
Gilmour, said.

'I Find It Inconceivable'

"I find it inconceivable that a drug officer would be misrepresenting
the size of an exhibit by 2,000%," Gilmour said outside court. "But
the evil of the situation is that (Bailey) spent 22 months in
pre-trial custody that he probably didn't need to serve as a result of
the misrepresentation of the amount of drug."

Bailey, 54, who served nearly two decades on the Toronto Police, was
found guilty of trafficking heroin and cocaine in 2001 and was on day
parole at the Keele Correctional Centre.

He was two days from possible full parole when a random police search
was held at the halfway house on June 18, 2002, Gilmour said.

The accused suffered "a heart episode" during the search and remained
unconscious for almost two weeks. At the time, paramedics allegedly
removed two packets of heroin from his throat -- one of which
reportedly burst.

The trial resumes at Old City Hall next week.