Judge postpones possible Rob Ford video release
A Toronto judge has postponed until next week a case that could lead to the release of a video that allegedly shows Toronto's embattled mayor smoking crack cocaine.
Lawyers for Muhammad Khattak, a man who appears in a famous photo with Mayor Rob Ford, were in court today seeking the release of two videos seized by police.
The matter has been adjourned until Tuesday, when the judge might view the video in private.
Crown lawyer Grace Hession David says she saw the video at police headquarters last night. She says it is irrelevant to Khattak's case because he is not seen nor heard in it.
Khattak's lawyers say they want to see it because they say Khattak's and his family's reputations are being damaged because the photo in question has been incorrectly linked to the video.
Chief Bill Blair has said police recovered two videos of the mayor, including one with images that corresponded with those that media outlets reported appear to show Ford smoking crack cocaine.
Khattak is one of three alleged gang members who appear with Ford in a photo that was used by those trying to sell the video. In it, he stands with Ford and two other men outside what police information describes as a crack house.
Khattak was arrested in a series of June police raids called Project Traveller that targeted suspected gun and drug traffickers. Khattak is charged with drug trafficking and participating in a gang.
In a separate submission, media lawyers will file applications Friday for the public release of information police used to obtain a search warrant in their case against Alexander Lisi, Rob Ford's friend and occasional driver who is also known as Sandro and Alessandro.
More than 500 pages of that search warrant information was released last week, but about half of those pages were blacked out by redactions lawyers are now seeking to remove. The information released last week chronicled police surveillance of Ford and Lisi exchanging packages in clandestine meetings.
A ruling on the release of the search warrant information is not expected until later this month.
The court submissions cap what has been a week of staggering revelations about Ford's behaviour.
On Tuesday, Ford admitted to smoking crack, probably while in a "drunken stupor" about a year ago. On Thursday, the Toronto Star released a video purchased by the newspaper that shows Ford in an impaired, profanity-laden rant during which he threatens to kill someone, though it's unclear who he was targeting in his rage.
Ford said the video released Thursday is an "embarrassment" and he was "extremely inebriated" when it was filmed.
He has refused mounting calls to resign or take a leave of absence. Many of those calls have come from members of his own executive committee, a hand-picked group of council members who act as the mayor's cabinet.
There is no legal mechanism that can force Ford from office. His four-year term expires in October and he has vowed to run for re-election.
Coun. Denzil Minnan-Wong, a member of Ford's executive committee, says he plans to ask council next week to petition the province to oust the mayor if he doesn't take a leave of absence.
However, Ontario Municipal Affairs Minister Linda Jeffrey has said the province has no plans to step in, and will await the council resolution.
