Fantino case delayed until February

Source:National Post
Fantino case delayed until February

The Crown quickly adjourned the first court appearance on Friday to deal with a criminal charge against Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Julian Fantino.

The proceeding was put over until February 3 and Gary McHale, the private citizen who initiated the complaint, was asked to provide more evidence to the Crown.

Mr. Fantino is charged with influencing or attempting to influence municipal officials in Haldimand County, in relation to the native land dispute in Caledonia in southern Ontario. He was not in court Friday and was not required to attend.

The unusual proceeding stems from an e-mail that Mr. Fantino sent in 2007 to Haldimand council, with copies forwarded by the commissioner to senior members of the staff of Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty. The e-mail warned the politicians against expressing any support for Mr. McHale, who has been an outspoken critic of the OPP and the government over its handling of the Caledonia dispute.

The e-mail stated that Mr. Fantino would recommend against renewing OPP police services in the county and would hold council responsible for any injuries to officers, if there was public support for Mr. McHale.

An Ontario Superior Court judge ordered a justice of the peace in a Dec. 31 ruling, to approve the criminal charge initiated by Mr. McHale, over the objections of the province. Justice David Crane concluded that the e-mail contained evidence of the "elements of the offence" of unlawfully attempting to influence municipal officials.

Premier McGuinty has downplayed the significance of the charge and earlier this week stressed that it was a private complaint. However, once a court has "issued process" for a private prosecution, it has the same legal weight as a criminal charge laid by police. Under the Criminal Code, it is then up to the Crown to take over prosecution of the case.

The Ontario government has refused to retain an outside lawyer to avoid any potential conflict of interest, even though it opposed Mr. McHale at the hearing before Judge Crane.

The province was also opposing Mr. McHale in the Ontario Court of Appeal on Thursday, in a case that could potentially limit the rights of citizens to initiate private prosecutions.

The Crown was appealing another Superior Court decision in favour of Mr. McHale, about when the Crown has the authority to dismiss a privately initiated charge.

Crown attorney John Patton argued that it has the authority to dismiss a charge, even before a private citizen presents evidence to a justice of the peace. More than 25 years ago, the Supreme Court of Canada said it was a "fundamental and historical right" of a citizen "under oath" to inform a justice of the peace of a potential crime.

The three-judge panel of the Court of Appeal appeared skeptical of the claim that the Crown has this power. "Then there really is no such thing as a private prosecution," noted Justice Warren Winkler.

The panel reserved its decision on Thursday after hearing arguments from the Crown and Mr. McHale, who is self-represented.

The province has assigned Milan Rupic to prosecute the case against the OPP Commissioner. Mr. Rupic works on the same floor as Mr. Patton at the head office of the Ministry of the Attorney-General in Toronto.

Mr. Rupic is also the lead prosecutor in a corruption case against former Toronto drug squad officers, who were charged by an internal task force when Mr. Fantino was chief of the Toronto police.

As well, three months ago Attorney-General Chris Bentley appointed the son of Mr. Fantino as a justice of the peace to preside in Toronto.

A spokesman for the Ministry of the Attorney-General insisted earlier this week that there is no conflict of interest because Mr. Rupic was not involved in the previous attempts by the Crown to stop the charge against Mr. Fantino from going ahead



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