Peel police charge lawyer with perjury over 2010 drug case
Colleague calls case ‘overblown,’ but legal community stunned
Peel Regional Police have charged Leora Shemesh, a criminal lawyer and frequent thorn in the side of police, with perjury and obstruct justice in connection to a drug case in Brampton, the Star has learned.
A summons to appear in court was served Wednesday morning at the downtown Toronto office of Shemesh’s highprofile defence counsel Marie Henein, who is already in the headlines representing former CBC radio host Jian Ghomeshi.
Rumours that Shemesh’s arrest was imminent sent shock waves through the legal community. Insiders with knowledge of the situation predict an “ugly, messy” case, with Shemesh mounting an aggressive defence and a potential witness list pitting lawyers, judges and cops against each other.
Veteran criminal lawyer Paul Burstein, past president of the Criminal Lawyers Association, said criminal charges are an “overblown” way of dealing with a “miscommunication or misunderstanding that is better addressed in another forum.”
Peel police did not reveal what prompted the force to lay the charges. Criminal lawyer Reid Rusonik said Wednesday night his impression is the defence bar is reacting to rumours that Shemesh said she had a “nanny cam” video of an officer stealing money as opposed to her suggesting it was a brazen act for an officer to steal money from a home when so many people now have “nanny cams.”
“I don’t credit the allegation for a second,” Rusonik said.
Lawyer Gary Grill, who will defend Shemesh with Henein, said Wednesday they have serious concerns about the fairness of the investigation and prosecution. “Leora Shemesh is a highly respected lawyer,” he said. “We are extremely disappointed but will vigorously fight these charges in court.”
Grill added Shemesh “will not be deterred” and will continue to practise law. Peel Police did not respond to requests for comment on the charges.
Shemesh, 39, was charged in relation to a matter no longer before the courts. Her client, Ha Tran of Mississauga, was charged in 2010 with marijuana possession for the purpose of trafficking.
Two years ago, on July 23, 2013, before any evidence against Tran was heard in court, prosecutor Robert Johnston asked for an adjournment. He told the judge Shemesh had provided him with “information” that raised “serious ethical issues for the Crown as to whether or not I can or should proceed,” according to a court transcript.
“My friend (Shemesh) is attempting to push the Crown quickly forward in a situation where the information she’s provided me has raised serious issues of whether there still remains a reasonable (prospect) to conviction,” Johnston told the court.
Shemesh told the court she had not dis- closed what the information was — noting the defence was under no obligation to do so — but that it was “some information about a . . . material witness in this proceeding, a witness that I intended to impeach using this information.”
The transcript shows Shemesh opposed the adjournment, telling the court she wanted to question the witness and that she could be “completely wrong with my allegations.”
An adjournment was granted. Johnston stayed Tran’s pot charge two months later.
The Star has learned the witness was Peel Const. Ian Dann.
Dann is currently on medical leave, a Peel Police spokesman said in an email to the Star. He would not say whether Dann is facing Police Act charges in connection with the Tran case.
Shemesh knew Dann from a previous case. In that 2011 case, as a result of Shemesh’s cross-examination, a Brampton judge found Dann and four other Peel drug squad officers had illegally searched a home belonging to a client.
The judge also concluded the officers perjured themselves when they tried to cover it up in court and that one of them used excessive force against the accused.
Peel Regional Police’s internal affairs unit investigated but no criminal or Police Act charges were laid against the officers in that case. Shemesh was quoted in the Star predicting nothing would happen to the officers, and that internal affairs “appears to be asleep at the wheel.”
Lawyers with Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General, who reviewed the force’s decision not to press charges against the Peel officers, were involved in the decision to charge Shemesh.
Last February, Peel police arrested Toronto lawyer Laura Liscio inside the Brampton courthouse after they allegedly found a quantity of marijuana hidden in items being given to a client.
Peel police issued a news release claiming Liscio had not been handcuffed while wearing her court robes. Days later, police acknowledged the lawyer had in, fact, been handcuffed in court attire. The Crown has since withdrawn two charges against Liscio.