A former Hamilton police officer has had his conviction appeal dismissed by an Ontario court.
Craig Ruthowsky was first charged in 2012 for alleged misconduct within Hamilton’s gangs and weapons enforcement unit.
Those charges were later stayed as prosecutors feared that if they had gone to trial, the identity of a police informant would be revealed.
However, not long after, Ruthowsky found himself in trouble again.
In 2015, a massive inter-jurisdictional police operation dubbed “Project Pharaoh” carried out 50 search warrants across southern Ontario.
Twenty-nine people were arrested. Ruthowsky was one of them.
A lengthy trial ensued, and Ruthowsky was convicted of bribery, obstruction of justice, breach of trust and cocaine trafficking in 2018 and sentenced to 13 years behind bars, minus six months for time already served.
His appeal argued that the sentence imposed was “excessive and demonstrably unfit” and claimed that the trial judge made several mistakes in his initial ruling, leaving out key evidence that led to a mischaracterization of Ruthowsky and, ultimately, a prejudiced trial.
However, the court found while there were a few “minor” misstatements from the Crown’s counsel, they were not significant enough to impact the evenhandedness of the trial.
“In each case where there was a minor misstatement in the Crown’s closing, the trial judge addressed the relevant evidence either in his review of the evidence or in summarizing the defence position,” Justice Jill Copeland said in her ruling, ultimately rejecting the appeal.
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