How will the Toronto police corruption probe impact ongoing criminal cases? Experts weigh in

A major corruption probe that led to the arrest of several Toronto police officers this week could put ongoing criminal court prosecutions at risk if the courts deem the officers' credibility fatal to the cases in question, experts say.

The allegations against the officers have the ability to spoil entire cases, Criminal Lawyers’ Association president Adam Weisberg says. 

“This has the potential to cause a lot of cases to have to be stayed or withdrawn,” he told CBC Toornto. “This wasn't on my bingo card for 2026.”

Weisberg said lawyers could even reopen cases due to the allegations, though he noted that process could become more difficult as more time passes.

“Most lawyers would bring it to the attention of the prosecutor that they have one of these officers on their case in a material role,” he said. “If it was an appeal that was active, obviously you might want to consider bringing fresh evidence.”

Ontario Crown Attorneys’ Association president Lesley Pasquino said it’s not yet clear what impacts the charges will have on ongoing cases. 

“We stand behind the Crowns assigned to those ongoing cases who may need to re-assess aspects of the evidence,” she said in a statement to CBC News. “This will necessarily be done on a case-by-case basis, and our members will continue to act with impartiality, objectivity and professionalism.” 

The Toronto Police Service said in a statement it is working with the OCAA to "determine any impacts on active investigations and procedures."

It could not say how many cases the officers have been involved with. Involvement could range from arrests, to testifying in court and handling evidence.

Toronto criminal lawyer Boris Bytensky says the impact is not up for debate.

“Any case where that officer's credibility matters is going to be either fatally impacted or at least close to that,” he said.

"Obvious credibility problems would be seen to be the types of things that could definitively exonerate somebody. [It] would just be a different calculus in terms of their credibility, reliability. And I don't know how willing the courts will be to reopen those cases."

Ehsan Ghebrai, another criminal defence lawyer in Toronto, says even cases that are in the conviction stage could be in jeopardy. 

“There will be cases 100 per cent that cannot proceed as a result of the impact that these officers are going to have,” he said. “I would say that the officers implicated in this obviously have serious credibility concerns for any cases that they're going to touch.”