Case tossed: Investigator was Winnipeg officer facing criminal charges

Drug case connected to charged Winnipeg cop stayed Jeff Keele on a lawyer who believes charges may have been stayed against his clients because of involvement of Trent Milan.

A case tied to a Winnipeg police officer who was in trouble with the law has been stayed.

Constable Trent Milan died in a car crash in October outside Winnipeg. At the time, Milan was facing 34 criminal charges including drugs and weapons offences.

CTV News has learned, just prior to the 42-year-olds's death, charges were stayed against four people accused in a major drug and weapons case connected to Milan.

Lawyer David Wolfe Walker represented three of the suspects.

"Then the constable Milan story broke and then all of a sudden there was a request to stay all the charges,” said Wolfe Walker.

Police documents show Milan was the officer who used informant information to obtain a search warrant for the house raided in the case in February.

According to the documents, police seized:

Wolfe Walker said prosecutors were seeking lengthy sentences. However, in September 2016 police announced Milan was arrested and charged with possessing illegal weapons and drugs with the purpose of trafficking.

Wolfe Walker said when he saw the headlines, he went to the crown raising credibility concerns about Milan's involvement in his clients' case.

"I advised the crown, I don't think that this is the person whom you want to have on the stand,” Wolfe Walker said.

A week later the lawyer said charges were stayed with no explanation.

Wolfe Walker has his own theory.

"There's no other reason in my opinion that these charges would have been stayed considering how this file was going,” he said.

Newly obtained Winnipeg police documents allege Milan planted evidence in an unrelated case.

University of Manitoba law professor David Milward said other cases, current and past, could be in jeopardy, especially where Milan was the officer seeking and executing the search warrant.

"Did he also plant in those cases? Did he also falsely obtain warrants in those cases? So I think some review in the context of his past work may be merited,” Milward added.

CTV News spoke to several defence lawyers Thursday who said they are checking their files to see if there are grounds for appeals or stays.

The chief federal prosecutor for Manitoba confirms prosecutors are reviewing cases involving Milan. However, he cannot say whether any decisions have changed as a result of these crown reviews.