Defence and witness spar over texts at police corruption trial

Tensions rose again in court Tuesday, as Craig Ruthowsky's lawyer continued his cross-examination of the drug dealer who allegedly paid off the Hamilton cop in exchange for police protection.

The dealer — who cannot be identified because of a publication ban — returned to the witness box in a Toronto courtroom for his second day of cross-examination. Court has heard the dealer and his associates were collectively paying Ruthowsky $20,000 a month in exchange for police secrets.

At one point during the day's proceedings, the dealer testified that Ruthowsky was looking for the location of one of his clients so the two of them could rob that man, who was "keeping a lot of money in his house."

"The Hamilton Police Service wanted you to get an address so the Hamilton Police Service could break in and steal the money?" Ruthowsky's lawyer, Greg Lafontaine, asked incredulously.

"Craig did," the dealer responded.

Both Ruthowsky and the dealer were caught on police wiretaps as part of a massive Toronto police guns and gangs investigation called "Project Pharaoh." It was after hearing that wiretap conversation while in custody, Lafontaine alleges, that the dealer became worried about other inmates finding out he was an informant.

Ruthowsky, 44, has pleaded not guilty in Superior Court in Toronto to charges of bribery, attempting to obstruct justice, trafficking cocaine, criminal breach of trust, and conspiring to traffic marijuana.

Judge attempts to keep order in courtroom

For the second day in a row, the judge had to repeatedly caution the witness and the lawyer to not talk over each other as they pushed to get their respective messages across.

"I don't expect to continue admonishing you for that," Justice Robert Clark said to Ruthowsky's lawyer at one point. "I shouldn't have to keep saying this."

At another juncture, Clark turned to the witness, with his voice booming, and ordered him to stop talking over questions.

"This is how it works in a court of law," Clark said. "This is not a coffee shop."

Repeatedly, Ruthowsky's lawyer attempted to prove that the dealer was a legitimate informant — something the dealer denied several times Tuesday. That distinction is a key point in the trial: the Crown contends that Ruthowsky was a cop on the take, while the defence has been suggesting that the dealer was a legitimate informant, who Ruthowsky was stringing along with little nuggets of information so he could continue gathering information to make arrests.

Over and over over the course of the day, Lafontaine kept asking the witness if he was Ruthowsky's informant. The witness kept saying no, with his frustration with the question becoming more evident as time wore on.

At the beginning of the day's testimony, Lafontaine began going through two months worth of text messages between Ruthowsky and the witness.

Lafontaine pointed to one text message exchange from an evening in May of 2012, as proof that the witness was passing on information to Ruthowsky.

"I'm going to suggest my client was calling you about a murder investigation," Lafontaine said.

"I'm going to suggest to you he was drunk," the witness shot back.

'He told me to lie to the OPP'

In another text message exchange from April of 2012, the dealer tells Ruthowsky he had gotten pulled over by an OPP officer on the highway in Hamilton for not having his seatbelt on.

"Seatbelt, they can't search," Ruthowsky texted back, and then said, "I don't know OPP people."

The dealer then responds, "Ok I have a little green on me."

Ruthowsky then texts back, "Don't admit that, even if they say they can smell it."

Lafontaine attempted to use that exchange to prove that if the dealer was paying Ruthowsky $20,000 a month, he wasn't getting any sort of catch-all protection as he has previously testified.

"You ended up getting a ticket for the seatbelt?" Lafontaine asked.

"Yes," the dealer responded, before saying, "He told me to lie to the OPP right here. You can read it out."

"He's not telling you to lie, he's telling you not to admit it," Lafontaine said.

"However you want to put it," the witness responded.

adam.carter@cbc.ca