Cop made ‘ honest mistake,’ trial told

Lawyer says constable who took $ 360 at crime scene had no ill intent

A Toronto police officer accused of stealing money from a dead man made an “honest mistake” when he pocketed $ 360 in cash from the scene of a sudden death, neglected to take photos of the wad of bills and did not place the money in a property bag, his lawyer said Thursday.

Const. Daniel Han, a Toronto police officer with 13 years on the job, had no ill intent when he seized 18 $ 20 bills while at a call in March 2019 and placed the money in his cargo pants pocket, his lawyer, Joanne Mulcahy, told Ontario Court Justice Feroza Bhabha during closing submissions Thursday in a trial being held virtually.

Distracted and run off his feet, Han then forgot about the money until he was questioned about the missing cash more than two weeks later, she said.

“An honest mistake, or an error in judgment, is what this case is about. And all of the actions subsequent flow from that honest mistake,” Mulcahy told Bhabha, who is overseeing the judge- alone trial. “Making a mistake does not make him a criminal,” she later added.

Han, 43, is accused of breach of trust and theft under $ 5,000 in connection to a March 15, 2019, sudden death call made after residents of a Parkdale highrise noticed a foul smell, leading to the discovery of a body inside a unit.

Han responded to the call and, after finding no signs of struggle, determined the death was not suspicious. He began taking the next steps in the case, including taking 56 photos of the scene and awaiting body removal.

The central issue at trial revolves around Han’s decision to pocket $ 360 in cash found in the deceased’s night table. Han does not dispute that he took the money, but says he did so in order to give it to next of kin.

The officer then forgot he’d taken the money until more than two weeks later, after the deceased’s brother inquired about the cash; the coroner who probed the death had advised the brother there had been money inside the apartment when he arrived on scene.

Han has pleaded not guilty to both charges.

“I had no intention to keep the money myself,” Han told the court this week from the witness stand.

Han blamed inattentiveness — he has a diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, he told the court — for a series of failures to document the money, including not photographing the wad of bills and neglecting to mention the cash in an occurrence report.

Han did jot down that he’d taken the money in his memo book — “$ 360 left side pocket,” his notes read in part, in reference to his left pants pocket.

According to an agreed statement of facts filed in court, Han’s memo book was examined by the Centre of Forensic Sciences, where a review found the note about the money in his pocket was written in different ink than the rest of the notes on the page. Han said he carries different kinds of pens with him on calls.

The Crown has argued Han deliberately took the money.

“I’m going to suggest to you that you stole the money when you took it from the scene,” said Crown lawyer Rebecca De Filippis, cross- examining Han Wednesday.

“No, I did not steal the money, Ihad it for safe- keeping for next of kin. … I’m not a thief, I know who I am,” Han replied.

De Filippis also suggested that Han did not take a photograph of the money because he did not want “anyone to know about it” and that he added the note about the money in his memo book after he was caught taking the cash, accusations Han denied. In her closing submissions Thursday, De Filippis said there is “only one reasonable inference” arising from the facts in the case — “and that is that the accused took the money from the scene with the intention of keeping it.”

De Filippis said Han failed to follow protocol put in place by Toronto police concerning property, including neglecting to document the money in a property report, note it in his occurrence report, or log it in the police locker system.

“And when he became aware that others knew about the money, he took steps to conceal his deceit,” De Filippis said.

Han is also facing professional misconduct charges under Ontario’s Police Services Act, including for “corrupt practice” for allegedly failing to promptly return the money, according to tribunal documents. Neither of the charges has been tested at the tribunal.

The Crown’s closing submissions resume next week.