Bribery charge was key in Ruthowsky’s case

Craig Ruthowsky faced five serious charges but the Hamilton police officer’s fate likely hinged on just one of them — the charge that he was accepting up to $20,000 a month in bribes from a drug dealer.

Had a Toronto jury believed Ruthowsky’s story that the dealer was his confidential informant and no money changed hands, the other charges of obstructing justice, breach of trust, trafficking cocaine and conspiracy to traffic marijuana very well could have fallen by the wayside.

Instead, the jury decided to believe the drug dealer’s story over the one told by the nowdisgraced Ruthowsky, who spent five years in the Hamilton police guns and gangs unit. He was convicted Wednesday on the first four charges and acquitted only on the charge of conspiracy to traffic marijuana.

As Justice Robert Clark noted in his closing instructions to the jury, the charges of obstructing justice, breach of trust and, to a lesser extent, trafficking cocaine include an element of “corrupt intent” — actions that were not simply the result of an accident or mistake.

If the jury didn’t think Ruthowsky was accepting bribes, it likely would have eliminated the corrupt intent requirement since he wouldn’t have been receiving personal benefits from the information he was dispensing to the drug dealer.

The judge also explained that Ruthowsky wasn’t the primary trafficker of cocaine in this case. But anyone who aids or encourages someone to traffic cocaine is guilty of the same offence.

In an emailed statement Thursday, Ruthowsky’s lawyer, Greg Lafontaine, said his client, family and friends “are all, understandably, disappointed and saddened by the jury’s verdict.”

“Many observers seemed most perplexed by the result on the bribery allegations, which was founded on the most utterly preposterous of the allegations against my client,” Lafontaine stated. “The resulting shock and disbelief shared by many in the courtroom was palpable.”

Lafontaine has filed a motion for a stay of proceeding, scheduled for May 10.

Lafontaine said his client is also considering the “potential viability” of an appeal.

Crown attorney John Pollard did not respond to a request for comment.

For now, Ruthowsky remains suspended with pay at least until he’s sentenced, which is scheduled for May 11.

Under the current rules of Ontario’s Police Services Act, an officer can only be suspended without pay when convicted of an offence and sentenced to a term of imprisonment.

Ruthowsky faces a maximum sentence of 14 years imprisonment for the bribery conviction, 10 years maximum for the trafficking and obstructing justice convictions, and five years for breach of trust.

The Crown indicated it would be seeking a penitentiary term for Ruthowsky but hasn’t specified the amount of time being sought.

Ruthowsky has been on the province’s Public Sector Salary Disclosure list three times since he was suspended in June 2012.

Last year, he earned nearly $105,000.

Ruthowsky is still facing 16 more criminal charges that were laid last August.