Canada - ~Drug-trafficking ruling due for Hells Angels convicted once already~ Judge should quash more serious charge
A judge is expected to decide today whether to dismiss charges against two members of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang accused of drug trafficking on behalf of a criminal organization.
Randy Potts and John Punko, full-patch members of the East End chapter of the notorious biker gang, were arrested in July 2005 and charged with trafficking in methamphetamines. They were also charged with the more serious offence of committing the crimes for a criminal gang.
In July of this year, a B.C. Supreme Court jury found the two men guilty of weapons offences but not guilty of committing the crimes for a criminal group.
Their lawyers have asked B.C. Supreme Court Justice Peter Leask, the trial judge in the drug case, to quash the criminal-organization counts related to the drug charges because, they say, the jury in the weapons case decided that the East End chapter was not a criminal organization.
But federal prosecutors have challenged that application for a so-called "order of issue estoppal" prohibiting Crown counsel from proceeding on the criminal gang counts.
In written Crown submissions, prosecutor Martha Devlin says that the defence application invites the judge to engage in "impermissible speculation and conjecture" with respect to the jury findings.
"The position of the respondent is that the applicant's submission is fatally flawed," said the Crown document.
"Simply put, they are trying to read too much into the verdict of not guilty."
After hearing submissions Thursday, Leask told the lawyers he would issue his ruling today, with reasons to follow at a later date. The trial is to open Dec. 7 in Vancouver.
In the weapons case, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Selwynn Romilly sentenced Punko and Potts effectively to one day in jail, thanks to double-time credit for pre-sentence custody. Punko remains in custody but Leask has released Potts on bail.
A third co-accused, Ronaldo Lising, received a sentence of 30 months in prison to be served consecutively with a nine-year, three-month stretch he was serving from three other convictions.
A fourth co-accused, Jean Violette, was sentenced to six years in prison for weapons offences and extortion.
In March 2008, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Anne MacKenzie acquitted David Giles, a full-patch member of the East End chapter, of all charges, including that he engaged in drug
trafficking for a criminal organization.
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