Pubdate: Tue, 26 Jun 2007
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2007 The Vancouver Sun
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Kim Bolan
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?188 (Outlaw Bikers)

COURT OKAYS COP'S ILLEGAL CONDUCT

Hells Angel Loses B.C. Supreme Court Constitutional Challenge Of 
Conviction After Police Agent Trafficked Drugs

VANCOUVER - A law allowing a police agent to use some illegal conduct 
while infiltrating a criminal organization is constitutional, a B.C. 
Supreme Court judge has ruled.

Justice Victor Curtis threw out a Charter challenge of the law 
launched by Hells Angel Ronaldo Lising, who was convicted in April on 
a trafficking charge after a major police undercover operation using 
agent Michael Plante.

The decision paves the way for Lising's sentencing July 3.

RCMP Insp. Gary Shinkaruk, who heads the Outlaw Motorcycle Gang unit, 
said the ruling is a big victory for law enforcement. "It is really 
significant that the law was held as constitutional," he said.

Plante, who agreed to infiltrate the biker gang for $1 million, is 
the key witness in several cases involving the $10-million Project 
E-Pandora that resulted in charges against 18 Hells Angels and their 
associates.

Defence lawyers had first argued that Plante's conduct was illegal 
because he admitted he assaulted someone and trafficked 
methamphetamine while working undercover for the RCMP. When that 
motion was thrown out in March, Lising's lawyer Greg DelBigio 
launched the constitutional challenge.

Curtis earlier found that Lising did order a kilogram of 
methamphetamine from Plante in August 2004 and made sure it was 
delivered to his brother's Champlain Mall deli. But the judge did not 
enter the conviction pending the outcome of the constitutional challenge.

DelBigio wouldn't comment Monday on whether his client would appeal. 
But he acknowledged an earlier comment by Curtis that the massive 
case may well end up before the Supreme Court of Canada. "There are 
important points of law," DelBigio said.

Meanwhile, Lising was denied full parole last week after a review by 
the National Parole Board, documents obtained by The Vancouver Sun show.

He is serving a four-year, six-month sentence for trafficking and 
possession of stolen property in an unrelated case.

The board said Lising is an "unrepentant, unremorseful and 
indifferent person who cares little for the harm you have caused others."

And it said his involvement in a criminal organization and thirst for 
easy money make him unsuitable for early release, given that he is a 
"managing partner in a large cocaine distribution network."

"Having carefully reviewed your criminal history cataloguing numerous 
incidents of instrumental violence, possession of instruments of 
violence and your institutional behaviour involving intimidation, 
threats and drug subculture, the board is satisfied that there are 
reasonable grounds to believe that, if released, you are likely to 
commit an offence involving violence before the expiration of your 
sentence," the ruling states.
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