COP ROLLS WITH STONE DEFENCE

If a rock star like Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards can get a
suspended sentence for having 22 grams of heroin, then a cop like Robert
Kelly should get no more for three grams of cocaine, a Brampton judge heard
yesterday. Kelly, 38, a Toronto cop who worked undercover with the
northwest field command, developed an addiction on the job, just as
Richards did, Kelly's lawyer Peter Brauti told Justice Ian Cowan during
sentencing submissions.

Richards was busted by the RCMP after a raid on his Harbour Castle hotel
suite after the Stones cut their live album at the El Mocambo in 1977.

Police seized 22 grams of 32%-pure heroin and charged Richards with
possession for the purposes of trafficking.

Kelly, a highly respected 14-year veteran with a stellar work record, was
arrested in an RCMP-led internal affairs sting two years ago after an
informant alleged Kelly threatened him over a $25,000 gambling debt.

Kelly pleaded guilty to two counts of cocaine possession.

Asserting that the 3.15 grams of cocaine Kelly gave the informant during
the sting is "a very poor measure" of the case's seriousness," prosecutor
John North has asked Cowan to give Kelly three months of house arrest,
three months overnight curfew, two years probation and 100 hours of
community service.

Brauti, who seeks a conditional discharge, perhaps in conjunction with
probation, community service and counselling, has argued for leniency
because he developed the addiction on the job.

Kelly will be sentenced on March 4.