Alexander “Sandro” Lisi was in court today. He’ll be back at Old City Hall tomorrow, and again the next day, and probably for a couple days after that. And then more later. The former driver to the former mayor, he’s facing a criminal charge of extortion concerning efforts to obtain the (first) Rob Ford crack video.
The current Ontario Court of Justice proceeding is a preliminary hearing, and as is custom, the evidence introduced is subject to a publication ban. This means that although anyone is free to attend the court in person, it’d be a crime to publish, broadcast or transmit pretty much anything you might learn there.
Even if the prosecutor pulled the lid off the Ark of the Covenant, we couldn’t let you know that it was present, let alone describe the wonders unleashed. (You’d be left to draw inferences from our melted-off faces).
This is, officially, to avoid tainting potential jurors.
So here’s what we can report:
• The accusation against Lisi has recently been refined. Where the original charge laid on October 31, 2013, alleged that Lisi threatened “Mohamed Siad or Liban Siyad” “with intent to obtain a digital video recording,” the revised information — sworn by police last week, on Feb. 25 — is broader in some respects and narrower in others:
[Alexander Lisi on or about the 16th day of May and] ending on or about the 18th day of May, 2013, both dates inclusive, did, without reasonable justification or excuse and with intent to obtain a digital video recording or recordings or a cellular telephone or telephones, induce or attempt to induce Liban Siyad by threats, accusations, menaces or violence, to produce or deliver, or cause to have produced or deliveried
, the said digital video recording or recordings, or cellular telephone or telephones.
The key takeaway is that police are no longer alleging that Lisi tried to extort Mohamed Siad, the guy who purportedly made the video and screened it for Gawker and the Star.
• Lisi’s lookin’ good. Relatively speaking, anyway. He was clean-shaven, well-coiffed, and generally calmer than he’s appeared in the past. Sitting behind him in court, I sometimes found myself thinking, “Huh. This is the guy who’s reportedly used bedbugs as a kind of biological weapon.”
Your humble correspondent is hardly an illustrator, but this was his attempt to draw Lisi in profile:
He should feel free to use it as an .
• Some kids had an excellent field trip. A group of students (most likely post-secondary but possibly high school) sat in on the morning portion, eagerly taking notes. Presuming that they grasp the nuances of a publication ban, they will perhaps be bound together by the secrets that they share.
• Lisi’s counsel has indicated that, if the matter proceeds to trial, they’d prefer the trial be conducted by judge and jury, rather than by judge alone. Speaking of Lisi’s lawyers, one of them represented Justin Bieber when he was charged with assault in Toronto last year. The other is a former Crown attorney whom the OPP once called an “unindicted co-conspirator” in an alleged attempt to pervert justice.
• Fabio Basso is fond of cigarettes. The longtime Ford pal who lives at 15 Windsor (where the Ford video was recorded) briefly took a seat in the public gallery, bringing with him a strong odor of smoke.
• Lisi’s got a busy month ahead. The preliminary inquiry on the extortion charge runs the rest of this week and then picks up in April. In the meantime, Lisi’s trial on a semi-related set of drug offences takes place March 24-27. While conducting surveillance as part of the larger Project Brazen 2 investigation into criminality surrounding the mayor, police snagged Lisi and dry cleaner Jamshid Bahrami for marijuana trafficking.
• Media wants copies of the exhibits. Even though everything presented at the prelim remains under a publication ban until the conclusion of an eventual trial, the city’s press — including NOW — is keenly interested in obtaining copies of the evidence for reference purposes, and even made a joint submission to the judge on this point. Crown attorney John Patton said he’d prefer such materials be released to the outlets through their counsel, while defense lawyer Seth Weinstein asked for a few days to consider the matter. Justice Mara Greene will take up the issue on Friday.
• Meanwhile, Rob Ford just took a break from hawking his earthly possessions to conveniently touch down in Jamaica.
The preliminary hearing continues this week in courtroom 123 at Old City Hall (60 Queen West), from 10am-4pm every day, with a couple hours of breaks scattered throughout. The public is welcome to attend but must adhere to the publication ban.
