DRUG OFFICER'S FATE NOW IN JURY'S HANDS

A Superior Court jury in Sudbury began deliberating Wednesday in the trial
of an Ontario Provincial Police Drug Enforcement Unit officer charged with
deliberately setting a fire in an evidence room in North Bay.

The seven-man, five-woman jury began its deliberations around the dinner
hour following a two-hour charge by Justice John Poupore.

Det. Const. James Buckle, 40, who is suspended with pay, is charged with
deliberately setting a fire Oct. 25, 1997 in the evidence room of an OPP
building at 126 Lakeshore Dr. in North Bay.

The rented building, which had controlled access and an alarm system, was
home to both the North Bay OPP's Drug Enforcement Unit and Anti-Rackets Squad.

The fire damaged the contents of a metal storage locker and the wall behind
the locker.

The six-compartment locker was used to store seized items such as money and
narcotics. A lock secured each compartment.

Damage was estimated at $2,300.

An investigation by the OFM determined the fire had been deliberately set
using naphtha.

The Crown is alleging Buckle started the fire.

The defence, meanwhile, has suggested the fire could have resulted due to
spontaneous combustion of marijuana.

The trial has heard that small evidence envelopes containing marijuana were
kept in the locker, and that two days before the fire, a strange odour was
detected in the office.

The source of the odour could not be determined.

The trial also heard that a large bag of mouldy marijuana was being stored
next to the locker at some point before the fire.