Cases connected to dead police officer accused of drug trafficking under review

A Winnipeg defence lawyer says charges against three of his clients have been stayed after he raised concerns with the Crown about the level of involvement of veteran police officer, Trent Milan, who was arrested and charged with 34 offences before his death in October.

Milan, 42, was arrested and accused of several offences including breach of trust, trafficking drugs, possessing a prohibited weapon and theft. Milan worked as a police officer in Winnipeg for more than 15 years.

Three weeks after being charged, Milan died when his vehicle collided with a gravel truck.

Now defence attorneys like David Wolfe Walker are combing through their files to see how often Milan's name omes up in their clients' cases.

"When I had learned about the [34] offenses and what offenses they were and how they affected Const. Milan's trust and credibility, what I did was I immediately went to my filing cabinet and pulled out every file I had," said Walker.

Walker said charges against three of his clients, all involved in one file that Milan had worked on, have been stayed after he raised concerns about the constable's involvement in the cases.

"This case in particular seemed to come off to me as Const. Milan's baby. He was the lead investigator on it, he took it from start to finish," said Walker.

His clients were charged in February of last year, but news of Milan's arrest came before the case was heard in court. His clients faced numerous drug and weapons charges, and they contested the evidence entered against them from that search.

Milan was able to obtain a search warrant for Walker's clients' residence using a confidential informant. He and other officers found several items entered as evidence against the clients, including 122 marijuana plants, fentanyl tablets, cash, jewelry, and a 9 mm pistol.

"My clients had an issue with all of the evidence, where it was found and the particular items that were seized from the house," said Walker.

Cases which have already been decided to be reviewed

Michele Jules with Manitoba Prosecution Service says the department is now looking at all cases where Milan was an investigating officer but the likelihood of those cases being thrown out will be determined by Milan's level of involvement and what other evidence is available, she said.

The review will "evaluate how that officer's evidence, or impact on the case, would have affected going forward on the case," said Jules.

Jules said whenever the department becomes aware of any action that could affect an officer's credibility, prosecutors make that information available to the defence and review how the case could be affected.

She said allegations such as those in Milan's case are rare and she doesn't recall anything similar. It's not yet known what the scope of the review will be or how many cases could be affected.

"Obviously the current cases that are before the court are the priority to be reviewed, but yes, I expect that it will go back to include cases that have already been concluded," said Jules.

Jules said the review will first deal with cases currently before the courts. She said there is no timeline for the review and the department has no idea of its scope. She said it is possible that there will be questions about cases of those who have already been convicted and served their time.