Lawyers of breach of trust case against local cop make closing statements

Toni Grann’s lawyer said the evidence against his client doesn’t add up to breach of trust.

Both Clay Powell and Crown attorney Mark Huneault gave their closing submissions to the court Friday. The 45-year-old Grann faces several charges of falsifying records between 2005 and 2010 when she was local registrar of the Ontario Sex Offender Registry and a constable for the Thunder Bay Police Service.

Powell said his client believed in the work she was doing and has admitted she made some mistakes.

But he said had a supervisor informed Grann they were upset with her work or that she was doing something wrong, she would have changed the way she did her job.

However, no senior officer ever asked if she needed help and Powell said there is no evidence anyone above the rank of constable had the “slightest interest” in how the Ontario Sex Registry was operated.

He added she was never asked any questions about any possible wrongdoings on her part until she was charged.

Powell went through case law referring to breach of threat dating back to the 1950s and posed the question if there was intention in this case to use public office for purposes other than for the public good.

There is nothing in the evidence to support that, he said.

“This lady is not a criminal,” Powell said.

In the Crown’s closing submission, Huneault argued the evidence is overwhelming that Grann was not doing her job satisfactorily and that she was committing criminal offences.

Huneault also said that what the accused did was so egregious, her motives don’t matter.

“She knowingly engaged in those acts,” he said, adding at the very least she was reckless with the public trust.

She worked for herself; not the public, Huneault said.

The decision in the case is set for March 27.