The Crown on Friday moved to appeal a decision to throw out charges against six former Toronto drug squad officers.

It's a decision that one defence lawyer says is a "travesty" and that the Crown should just "bow out gracefully."

Attorney General Chris Bentley's office confirmed the appeal was filed late Friday.

Last week, Judge Ian Nordheimer ruled the officers' charter rights were violated because it took more than eight years to bring charges of obstruction and theft to trial, and he could find no evidence of any sense of urgency on the part of the prosecution.

Nordheimer said the pace at which the charges made it to court was "glacial" and as a result stayed 30 counts of corruption against the six former drug squad members.

The investigation got started after more than 200 drug cases were dropped by provincial prosecutors. 

A number of people accused in those cases had filed civil lawsuits, alleging they were beaten and robbed by drug squad officers.

The policemen, all former members of the Toronto Drug Squad, were facing charges including extortion, theft, assault, perjury and obstruction of justice.

Defence lawyer Peter Brauti told CBC News he is "totally disappointed" now that the Crown has decided to take that route.

"I mean at a certain time they just have to bow out gracefully and realize that things unfolded in the way they shouldn't and learn lessons from it.

"I mean the big story here should be to look at this case and use it as a starting point to fix the justice system, not to continue on with the travesty it has created."

Crown's appeal means longer lag for officers

Brauti believes it's obvious the problem has been with the prosecutors, not with the defence.

"I even heard one of the complainants on CBC Radio [Friday] morning pointing the finger at the Crown, saying it was the Crown that dropped the ball. So why [do] these clients have to pay a price of waiting even longer to have their decision confirmed? Again, just hard for me to comprehend."

An internal investigation by a 25-member special task force headed by then Chief Supt. John Neily of the RCMP was assigned to look into corruption allegations against the officers in the now defunct Central Field Command drug squad Team 3.

Neily referred a total of 218 charges against 12 officers to the Crown law office but prosecutors recommended charging only six officers with 22 counts because only those had a "reasonable prospect of conviction."

The six officers all pleaded not guilty to the charges.