XPost: van.general, bc.general, bc.politics   
   XPost: can.politics, alt.true-crime, alt.harley   
   From: gregpcarr@yahoo.ca   
      
   Two Hells Angels members were handed short jail sentences Friday for   
   serious drug trafficking offences. The Crown immediately appealed.   
      
   B.C. Justice Peter Leask decided a number of mitigating factors would   
   reduce the sentences of Hells Angels members John Virgil Punko and   
   Randy Richard Potts, including Potts' chronic back pain and a   
   recurring abscess on his buttocks that causes him considerable pain   
   and discomfort.   
      
   The judge sentenced Potts to one year in jail, which was much less   
   than the 12 years requested by federal prosecutor Martha Devlin.   
      
   Punko, 43, was handed a 14-month sentence. The Crown had asked for 16   
   years.   
      
   The Crown immediately filed appeals in the B.C. Court of Appeal,   
   seeking to have the sentences increased.   
      
   During sentencing, Leask said both bikers were "pawns of police"   
   because they were low-level targets used to try to get to high-level   
   targets within Vancouver's East End chapter of the Hells Angels.   
      
   The bikers were charged in 2005 after a two-year, $10-million police   
   investigation code-named Project E-Pandora. A total of six Hells   
   Angels and 13 associates were charged.   
      
   Potts and Punko were the last to be prosecuted.   
      
   RCMP Insp. Gary Shinkaruk, the officer in charge of the investigation,   
   said there were obvious discrepancies between Friday's sentences and   
   the lengthy prison terms sought by the Crown.   
      
   "We certainly respect the position of the court," he said. "Sentencing   
   is extremely complex. I would never question what a judge brings   
   down."   
      
   Asked about Potts and Punko being called "pawns of police," Shinkaruk   
   said: "Investigating criminal organizations is extremely complicated.   
   ... We certainly worked within the means of the law."   
      
   Potts and Punko pleaded guilty last Dec. 7 to trafficking cocaine,   
   possessing more than $387,000 cash that was the proceeds of crime and   
   conspiring to produce methamphetamine in a drug lab and distribute it.   
      
   The guilty pleas came after Leask last year tossed out the criminal   
   organization charges, which alleged Potts and Punko committed their   
   drug crimes for the benefit of a criminal organization -- the East End   
   Hells Angels.   
      
   Leask concluded the Crown could not proceed on the criminal   
   organization charges because a jury last summer had acquitted Potts,   
   Punko and two other Hells Angels members of similar charges. The Crown   
   is also appealing that ruling by Leask.   
      
   During sentencing Friday, Leask said he would have sentenced Punko to   
   six years in prison if the case had gone to trial, but deducted one   
   year for pleading guilty, deducted another year for the "police   
   involvement in creating the crimes" and gave 34 months' credit for the   
   time Punko served in pretrial custody.   
      
   The judge found that police used an agent, Michael Plante, who fed   
   Punko's addiction to the prescription painkiller Percocet and got   
   Punko involved in methamphetamine production.   
      
   Punko, 43, also sold Plante five kilograms of cocaine. Plante   
   infiltrated the East End Hells Angels by being accepted to apply as a   
   Hells Angels member.   
      
   Punko was previously convicted of cultivating marijuana, mischief   
   under $5,000, contempt of court for refusing to testify at another   
   Hells Angels trial and for threatening a prosecutor at a Hells Angels   
   trial in 2002.   
      
   Potts, 49, had a previous criminal record for possession of stolen   
   property and using a stolen credit card, careless use of a firearm and   
   possession of property obtained by crime.   
      
   Potts pleaded guilty last year to being involved in a meth lab with   
   Plante and selling him 28 ounces of cocaine.   
      
   The judge found Potts was not a sophisticated criminal and was, at the   
   time of his crimes, an alcoholic addicted to Percocets supplied by   
   Plante.   
      
   Last summer, a jury convicted Punko, Potts and two other Hells Angels   
   members, Ronaldo Lising and Jean Violette, of weapons offences and   
   extortion.   
      
   nhall@vancoversun.com   
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   Appeal court orders new trial for accused drug dealer   
    Panel finds trial judge made a number of errors   
    By Neal Hall, Vancouver SunMarch 13, 2010  Three judges of the B.C.   
   Court of Appeal on Friday ordered a new trial for Nima Ghavami, who is   
   accused of distributing and trafficking methamphetamine with members   
   of the Hells Angels.   
      
   Ghavami is accused of actively participating in a plan to produce and   
   distribute methamphetamine by handling about $100,000 cash and 14   
   kilograms of methamphetamine over a one-year period.   
      
   The trial judge, Justice Peter Leask, previously entered a judicial   
   stay of proceedings of the charges against Ghavami because of a   
   44-month trial delay, which the judge found was caused mostly by the   
   Crown.   
      
   Leask concluded that the trial delay violated Ghavami's constitutional   
   right to a trial within a reasonable amount of time.   
      
   After the stay, Ghavami, a former strip-club bouncer, said he was   
   planning to attend law school in Victoria.   
      
   He will have to put that plan on hold to see what transpires at his   
   trial.   
      
   The Crown appealed Leask's ruling and three appeal court judges found   
   the trial judge made a number of errors.   
      
   The appeal panel found that while a 44-month trial delay was "a very   
   long time," it did not infringe on Ghavami's right to a trial within a   
   reasonable time. The appeal court panel noted that Ghavami was on bail   
   under strict conditions, which were relaxed as time went on, while   
   awaiting trial.   
      
   "When balanced against the public's interest in the trial of the   
   allegations, the balance favours a trial," Appeal Court Justice Ian   
   Donald said in written reasons released Friday.   
      
   "This was a complicated prosecution arising from a difficult   
   investigation, alleging very serious misconduct. As it unfolded, it   
   required the time it took," said the judgment, which is online at:   
   http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/jdb-txt/CA/10/01/2010BCCA0126.htm   
      
   The Crown is appealing a number of rulings made by Leask.   
      
   nhall@vancouversun.com   
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   Judge Leask is a disgrace to the bench and should resign. Google group   
   search, "Judge Peter Leask" for more info.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)