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The administration of justice has always been a source of simmering anger for the public and editorial writers alike.

In 2007, a number of high profile cases brought that anger to a roiling boil.

The deaths of Crystal Taman and Phil Haiart focused attention on a justice system many say favours the rights of offenders over victims.

Other cases highlighted below paint a sobering picture of a city seemingly aground in drugs and violence.

1. PLEA BARGAIN UPROAR

No other court story this year sparked more public anger than the case of former city cop Derek Harvey-Zenk, who was driving home after a night spent partying with fellow officers when he plowed into the back of Crystal Taman's car, killing her. A slipshod investigation into the February 2005 crash resulted in a controversial plea bargain that saw Harvey-Zenk agree to plead guilty to dangerous driving causing death in exchange for a conditional sentence. The public furor prompted the provincial government to announce it would hold a formal inquiry into the matter.

2. HEIST HAS LINKS TO TERRORISM

It had all the elements of a Hollywood thriller: Millions in stolen swag, an international rogues gallery with links to Middle Eastern terrorism, and a purloined Austrian gem. Winnipeg-born bank thief and swindler Gerald Blanchard was sentenced in November to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to a host of audacious crimes, including the theft of more than $500,000 from a city bank and possessing a historic gem stolen from an Austrian castle. At Blanchard's sentencing, it was revealed he worked for a mysterious London "boss" who used some of the illegal profits to fund terrorist activities in Iraq.

3. HELLUVA YEAR FOR HELLS ANGELS

Full-patch bikers Ian Grant and Jeff Peck received hefty jail sentences this year thanks to evidence from a police informant, while a trial is underway for former president Ernie Dew. It got worse for the Hells: a similar police sting netted the arrests this month of new president Dale Donovan and several associates.

4. HAIART MURDER CONFOUNDS

In November, Corey Spence was sentenced to life in prison for a murder that shone a spotlight on the city's violent drug world. Phil Haiart, 17, was walking near a McGee Street crack house in October 2005 when he was caught in the crossfire of a gang turf war. A jury convicted Spence of second-degree murder, finding that he had ordered another man to shoot at rival gangsters. The alleged shooter, Jeff Cansanay, was acquitted earlier in the year after Amyotte, Abdullah, and another witness, Jammal Jacob, refused to testify at his trial and Justice Morris Kaufman refused to accept their videotaped police statements as evidence. The Crown is appealing Cansanay's acquittal and Spence is appealing his conviction.

5. PILOT CONVICTED FOR FATAL CRASH

He was praised as a hero in the days following a dramatic plane crash on a busy Winnipeg street five years ago. But there was no talk of heroism in November when a judge convicted former Keystone Air pilot Mark Tayfel of one count of criminal negligence causing death, four counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and one count of dangerous operation of an aircraft in the 2002 crash. Tayfel, who now lives in Calgary, is still awaiting sentencing.

6. EX-SOLDIER CALLS SEX ASSAULT VICTIM AT HOME

A landmark case involving a former soldier acquitted of sexual assault after he argued he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder took a strange turn in November when the man was re-arrested for allegedly phoning the young victim's home. Roger Borsch, 35, is accused of breaching a court order he not contact the teenage victim and has been returned to custody. In September, the Manitoba Court of Appeal ordered a new trial after the Crown argued the sentencing judge erred in accepting the testimony of defence psychiatrists without evaluating the credibility of Borsch's claims.

7. A CHOICE OF LIFE OR DEATH

In a case still before the court, a judge is being asked to consider whether religious faith or medical ethics should guide a decision to withdraw an 84-year-old man from life support. Samuel Golubchuk, an Orthodox Jew, has been on life support at Grace Hospital since early November. Doctors say Golubchuk has only minimal brain activity and no hope of recovering. His family is fighting to keep him on life support, arguing it would be a sin to hasten his death.

8. MAN CONVICTED IN TOT'S DEATH

Veter an cops de scrib ed it as one of the most brutal cases of abuse they had ever seen. Sixteen-month-old baby Amelia was savagely assaulted and allowed to suffer for more than two days before she died in hospital. In November, her attacker, 24-year-old Alexandro Suazo, was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

9. CROWN ATTORNEYS THREATENED

A pair of high profile incidents brought home the dangers Crown attorneys can face putting away criminals. Convicted robber Patrick Noble threatened to kill a Crown attorney one day before her home was raided by violent thugs. Noble, 25, pleaded guilty in July to two counts of uttering threats and was sentenced to two more years in prison. A month later, police arrested another man after he allegedly disrupted a trial and followed a female Crown attorney home from work.

10. METIS LAND CLAIM TOSSED

In December, a judge dismissed a mammoth Metis land claim that threatened to put the provincial and federal governments on the hook for billions of dollars in compensation. The Manitoba Metis Federation-led lawsuit was seeking cash or compensation for 560,000 hectares of land it says Metis people were promised in the Manitoba Act of 1870.