OFFICER'S DRUG CHARGE TOSSED OUT

Search Of Police Van Violated Rights, Judge Says

A packed Newmarket courtroom erupted in cheers and applause yesterday after
a judge tossed out a charge of trafficking in hashish against veteran
Toronto police officer Mark Denton.

"Mark Denton is a decent human being, a very fine police officer and this
is a very important judgment because it shows that police officers also
have civil rights that have to be upheld," Denton's lawyer, Harry Black,
said later.

Mr. Justice William Gorwich ruled that Denton's constitutional rights had
been repeatedly violated by an Ontario Provincial Police officer who,
Gorwich said, illegally searched Denton's police van and found a baggie of
the illicit narcotic in November, 1999.

Denton, 40, a veteran drug squad officer, told another OPP officer who had
stopped him initially the drugs were meant for a court exhibit. He had been
stopped on suspicion of impaired driving while going home from a double shift.

While the OPP were within their rights to pull Denton over, what happened
afterward was one constitutional violation after another, the judge said.

Gorwich was scathing in his criticism of OPP Constable Ronald Caley, saying
the officer had "gone on a fishing expedition . . . to see what he could
find," and was "loud, aggressive and rude" toward Denton.

The judge said Caley had "no lawful authority" to search the van, and to
"allow the fruits of an unreasonable search would render the trial unfair."

It's widely believed by drug squad colleagues that the 145 grams of hash
were left in the van by accident, evidence seized in a drug bust and
carelessly left behind in a gym bag.

"You could say that Mark took one for the team," said one officer, who
asked not to be identified.

"All kinds of people had access to that van. Someone made a mistake and
Mark ended up paying the price."

Nearly 50 police officers, along with family and friends, sat quietly in
the Ontario Court of Justice courtroom while Gorwich took 1 1/2 hours to
read the judgment.

Afterward, there were hugs in the corridor for the likable Denton, a minor
league hockey coach and father of two.

The 21-year veteran has been relegated to desk duties since he was charged,
working in the department that monitors people on probation. His legal woes
are far from over as he still faces four Police Act charges regarding the
hashish.

Denton was guarded in his comments later, thanking lawyers Black and Joanne
Mulcahy, along with the police association and the colleagues who came to
his trial.

But his wife, Wendy, was outspoken and angry. "I'm glad it's over, but
that's 27 months out of our lives that never should have happened," she
said in an interview.

The couple has undergone counselling while they tried to deal with friends
who started treating them differently, she said.

Ironically, the last 27 months might never had happened because the first
OPP officer who stopped Denton had wanted to let him go, believing that he
really wasn't drunk but was tired after working a double shift.

But Caley, the senior officer, took over when he arrived on the scene and,
in the words of the judge, "let his curiosity spur him on" in an illegal search.