Defence grills Mounties over stayed charges from previous Sault drug project

The defence continued Tuesday to hammer away at the evidence of the lead investigator in a RCMP drug project that ensnared a second man while officers were targeting a personal trainer alleged to be trafficking steroids.

For a second day, Mark Allison, who headed up Project OTamper, was grilled by Richard Hurley's lawyer about the events that resulted in his client's Jan. 8, 2016 arrest.

A couple of times during his cross-examination, which began Monday, Michael Lacy suggested the Mountie was lying, a charge that the officer denied.

Hurley, 39, has pleaded not guilty to possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and obstructing police.

Lacy is maintaining that Hurley's Charter rights were violated by police and a voir dire — a trial within a trial — is underway to determine the admissibility of evidence.

Ontario Court Justice Romuald Kwolek has set aside this week and a week in May for the voir dire and trial.

Hurley was arrested while police were conducting surveillance on Christopher Muncaster, the project's target, who also faces numerous charges stemming from the lengthy investigation.

Lacy questioned Allison about his reasonable and probable grounds for arresting his client, at one point focusing on Allison's comment that he knew Hurley was a drug dealer.

Allison agreed that prior to a meeting between the two men on Jan. 7, after which police followed Muncaster to Toronto and back, and then arrested Hurley the following day after he left the other man's studio, that the officers had no evidence Hurley was connected to drug trafficking.

"Other than the communicating (between the pair)," Allison added.

Lacy asked if his comment was based on an event involving Hurley that had occurred seven years earlier, before Allison was stationed in the Sault.

"Not solely, but some of it,"  the Mountie replied.

The defence asked what evidence he had besides water cooler talk and innuendo.

"It was our belief Richard Hurley is and was a drug trafficker," Allison said.

Lacy retorted that this was based on nothing other than a past investigation, dubbed Project Omax, where a significant amount of cocaine was seized.

Allison said a person who was dealing large amounts of cocaine is not going to get out of the business.

Police seized cocaine from Hurley when he was arrested in 2016, the officer said, suggesting "the proof is in the pudding" and "he was always in the drug trafficking trade."

Hurley was one of five people charged in October 2008, following the 17-month Project Omax probe.

A federal prosecutor stayed cocaine trafficking charges against Hurley and another man in April 2010 after it was revealed a senior RCMP officer had admitted fabricating an internal wiretap memo.

The false memo had been given to the defence during the pair's preliminary hearing in 2009.

Also on Tuesday, the court heard from another officer who was involved in the surveillance 

Augustus Hammond, a former member of the Sault RCMP detachment, who is now stationed in Gander, Nfld, was part of the surveillance team, and the scribe for the project, who kept notes of his own observations and other Mounties during their surveillance of Muncaster while he drove to Toronto.

Hammond, who testified via a video hookup, was also involved in Hurley's arrest on Jan. 8.

The eight-year officer said he was parked outside Muncaster's Queen Street studio after being told that Hurley had entered the building at 8:06 p.m. and to arrest him when he came out.

Hurley, who was carrying a plastic bag, came out about an hour later and headed towards his vehicle, Hammond said.

He told federal prosecutor Luc Boucher that when he got the word to go, he got out of his car, opened his jacket to show his vest with "police" on it and said "Police, stop, you're under arrest."

Hurley started to run towards his vehicle, then ran west along Queen Street, and through an alley before one of the officers grabbed him and had him on the ground on the lawn of the courthouse, Hammond said.

The bag was located 10 or 15 feet away in the snow.

During his cross-examination, Lacy again asked about Project Omax.

Hammond, who recently was transferred to Gander,  said he was posted to the Sault in 2008 at end of the project.

"I wouldn't say it was the talk of the detachment, but it was talked about."

Lacy suggested that there was a general sense among the RCMP members that Hurley had gotten away with something.

Hammond replied he couldn't really say, but "I thought Hurley was a drug trafficker and obviously didn't get found guilty by the court."

That was a "significant injustice," Lacy asked him.

"Any time someone who commits a crime is not punished that's an injustice," Hammond said.

The trial continues today at the courthouse.