Pubdate: Wed, 01 Sep 2010
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2010 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact: http://www.canada.com/theprovince/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/theprovince/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Cassidy Olivier
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?241 (Methamphetamine - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?188 (Outlaw Bikers)

COURT UPHOLDS HELLS ANGEL'S CONVICTION

The B.C. Court of Appeal has dismissed a constitutional challenge by 
a full-patch member of the Hells Angels which sought to overturn a 
three-year-old conviction for drug trafficking.

Ronaldo Lising, a member of the biker club's East End Chapter, was 
one of 17 Hells Angels charged following the RCMP's high-profile, 
$10-million undercover operation dubbed Project E-Pandora.

Evidence leading to his 2007 conviction for possessing 
methamphetamine came primarily from Michael Plante, an RCMP agent who 
was paid $1 million to infiltrate the notorious biker group over a 
two-year period.

Lising's appeal, heard before three judges in Vancouver, argued that 
exempting Plante's criminal actions, while an agent of the RCMP, from 
prosecution was unconstitutional and a potential abuse of process.

During the trial, court heard that Lising had ordered a kilogram of 
meth from Plante in 2004.

In her 52-page written decision, Justice Elizabeth Bennett ruled that 
legislation which provided an exemption to Plante for his criminal 
activity while under control of the police was indeed constitutional. 
She also concluded that there was no abuse of process.

"The verdict is reasonable and supported by the evidence," she wrote.

Lising is currently serving a global sentence of nine years and three 
months for a series of crimes, including the 2007 conviction for 
trafficking methamphetamine for which he was given four years of prison.
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