J-Tornado abruptly adjourned over 'new evidence' about Crown witness

The ongoing drug trial of two men in Saint John was abruptly adjourned on Friday morning as defence lawyers asked for time to investigate new evidence they say came to them on Thursdaynight about the Crown's key witness.

Court of Queen's Bench Justice William Grant agreed and adjourned the case untilMondaymorning.

"I have no reason to question the [defence] representations," said Grant.

"They are officers of the court, I accept what they tell me."

• 'You are a professional rat': J-Tornado informant faces pointed insults by defence
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Shane Williams, of Smithtown, and Joshua Kindred, of Saint John,have been on trial for various drug possession, trafficking and conspiracy charges for the past six weeks.

The co-accused, who are both in their 30s,were among 28 arrested by police in 2014 as part of Operation J-Tornado, a three-yearinvestigation into drug trafficking in New Brunswick.

The investigation depended heavily on evidence gathered by a Saint John businessman, and former friend of Williams, who has been giving evidence at his trial for more than a week.

The businessman, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, had been informing on Saint John drug suspects for police since 2007, while engaging in criminal activity, including drug dealing, himself, the court has heard.

In March 2014, he signed a contract with the RCMP to become a police agent and agreed to collect evidence to support the J-Tornado investigation in exchange for a series of payments totally nearly $600,000.

Williams's defence lawyer Brian Munro had been cross-examining the man for several hours over two days and placed a number of accusations in front of him that he flatly denied.

He rejected Munro's claim that he is a major eastern Canadian drug distributor and that he continued to traffic in drugs while he worked for police.

He also flatly denied a claim that he secretly met with Williams in Montreal in May 2014at the height of the J-Tornado investigation without the knowledge or approval ofhis RCMP handlers.

Tip provided by unnamed lawyer

As court was to resume on Fridaymorning, Kindred's lawyer, Reid Chedore, rose to announce the emergence of new evidence about the witness and requested an adjournment to investigate it before cross-examination continued.

He said an unnamed local lawyer contacted him and Munro onThursdayevening and told them four people were willing to come forward with information about the witness and his activities.

"We request time,"Chedoretold the presiding judge,"based on information we received last night and [were]able to partially verify this morning"

Munro said he too had spoken with the lawyer and felt the information he brought forward would be critical to the trial, if true, and needed to be investigated.

Crown prosecutorMelanie Ferron did not object, although she did express concern about further delays in the trial, which has already used up all of its originally allotted court time, with up to 20 police witnesses still to testify.

Supposed to testify at other trials

The police agent will be the key witness in other J-Tornado trials that are still making their way through the court system, including the trial of Anthony Edison, whompolice allegeran a second drug network in Saint John, parallel to Williams's.

He is also expected to testify at the trial of Claude DiFazio, of Laval, Que.,whom police claimwas the source of some of the drugs Williams and Edison allegedly imported.

The agent has acknowledged a criminal past, but not one that is as extensive as defence lawyers have been claiming.

In Williams's and Kindred's trial,Chedore and Munro have been suggesting police were manipulated by the informant into believing a large organized crime drug operation was underway in Saint John when it was really a few small-time, loosely-connected operators.

The lawyerscontendthe man's exaggerated claims of drug dealing in Saint John helped him secure large payments from the RCMP and led to serious and unwarranted organized crime charges.

Early in the trial,Chedore and Munro expressed hope that publicity from the trial would spur members of the public with knowledge of the police informant to come forward give information about him and argued against a publication ban on the man's identity partly on that basis.

Chedore told the courtit is still too soon to know if the four people who have come forward will help refute claims the man has made in court so far, but that will be investigated over the weekend.

"When we argued against the publication ban, that's exactly why," said Chedoreon Friday.