British prime minister William Gladstone famously said: “Justice delayed is justice denied.” Gladstone may well have been speaking of the case of Randy Fryingpan, and Const. Mike Wasylyshen.

In October 2002, Const. Wasylyshen and four other officers were investigating a complaint of the attempted theft of a car. When they arrived on the scene, they found four people in the suspect vehicle.

Three of them left the car when ordered, but 16-year-old Fryingpan didn’t. He had passed out.

Wasylyshen unholstered his handy Taser and gave the unresponsive Fryingpan not one, not two, but EIGHT zaps in 68 seconds.

This is where Wasylyshen and Fryingpan entered the netherworld of complaints against police. Fryingpan registered a complaint, which was dismissed by the police when they arrived at the quite amazing conclusion that Wasylyshen was justified in Tasering an unresponsive man. Fryingpan’s lawyer appealed to the Law Enforcement Review Board in 2005. It took two more years before a decision was made to charge Wasylyshen with unlawful exercise of authority and insubordination. The internal disciplinary hearing on Wasylyshen will be held on Aug. 9 of this year.

Why the delay? According to Tony Simioni, head of the police union, if an appeal request is made, it must be heard, unlike a court of law where a judge decides if there is cause of hearing. This has resulted in cases dragging out for years.

This is absurd. No one — neither the alleged victim nor the accused cop — should have to wait eight years for a resolution.

And while we’re tossing around legal clichés, here’s another one that applies today: justice must not only be done, but must also be seen to be done.

The case of former Strathcona MP Rahim Jaffer flies in the face of that adage. Jaffer was pulled over for speeding in 2009.  He was subsequently charged with having a blood alcohol level above the legal limit, possession of cocaine, and speeding. But when the case was resolved this week, Jaffer plead guilty to one count of careless driving, and paid a $500 fine. Even the speeding charge was dropped. The presiding judge commented: “I’m sure you can recognize a break when you see one.”

If Jaffer doesn’t see it, the rest of us can. But no explanation was offered as to how this high profile ex-politician turned three serious charges into one puny $500 fine.