The police investigation into Mayor Rob Ford is back in court as officers have filed new search warrant requests but the public may not have details about the requests for another week.
Lawyers were in court this morning fighting for the release of Information To Obtain (ITO) documents, but the court hearing has been delayed until Wednesday, Sept. 24.
According to media lawyer Peter Jacobsen, the ITO contains material that relates to a story and photos published in the Globe and Mail in April. The photos are stills from a video that the Globe alleges was surreptitiously filmed in the basement of the mayor’s sister Kathy Ford. The photos show the mayor holding a pipe while the video, the Globe says, also has appearances from his sister and Alexander “Sandro” Lisi.
Lisi, Ford’s former driver, is currently facing drug charges and also stands accused of extortion in connection with another video involving the mayor. His trial is scheduled to begin in 2015.
Speaking outside a courtroom on University Avenue Friday morning, Jacobsen told reporters that although the Crown has approved the release of the documents, lawyers for Lisi have yet to see the Crown’s redactions.
“In fairness, Mr. Lisi’s counsel should have an opportunity to review the materials because Mr. Lisi’s fair trial rights could be affected,” said Jacobsen.
Lisi is accused of threatening two alleged gang members in efforts to retrieve an earlier video of the mayor smoking from a pipe. That video was initially reported by the Toronto Star and Gawker in May 2013, and confirmed by Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair in a news conference last Fall. Mayor Ford has since admitted to smoking crack cocaine.
Police have applied for several search warrants as part of Brazen 2 since the investigation was launched in June 2013. The first batch of documents related to the project was released in November 2013 and outline how police conducted surveillance on Ford and Lisi. Another batch released in March 2014 reveals that police obtained an iPhone belonging to Lisi.
Jacobsen, who is acting on behalf of a coalition of media outlets (including CP24) to obtain the documents, expressed frustration at not knowing up front just how many documents there are. Search warrants that are executed by police are supposed to be open to public scrutiny with some limited exceptions, he said.
Justice Ian Nordheimer has ordered the Crown to tell the media lawyers about all related ITOs and search warrants. Jacobsen said this is the only way to find out about the existence of ITOs in this particular investigation, unless there are leaks from the police.
“That’s not how the openness principle is supposed to be applied in Canada,” said Jacobsen. “It is this virtual obscurity that the system allows that has got to stop.”
He added that this “business of hunting and pecking and hoping that we can find out what is supposed to be public information” is costly for the courts because lawyers have to keep re-applying for the release of additional documents every time they are found to exist.
