Convictions Reversed in Hells Angels Case

Montreal, Canada (September 6, 2020) BTN - Four people who were convicted four years ago on charges alleging they helped three Hells Angels members launder their money have succeeded in having their convictions reversed on appeal.

In a decision released on Thursday, the Quebec Court of Appeal ordered that the trial of Richard Felx, 62, Michel Ste-Marie, 75, and his children Dax, 45, and Marie Ste-Marie, 47, should not have proceeded.

All four were first charged in 2009 in Operation Diligence, an investigation led by the Sûreté du Québec, into how members of the Hells Angels based in Quebec had infiltrated specific segments of the province’s construction industry. As part of the same investigation, Felx, a former notary, and the others, were found to have helped Normand (Casper) Ouimet, 51, Martin Robert, 45, and Alain Durand, all full patch members of the motorcycle club, hide their money.

In a trial held at the Laval courthouse in 2016, Quebec Court Judge Gilles Garneau found all four guilty of money laundering, conspiracy and gangsterism. Felx’s role was to create trusts and an offshore company in Mauritius, an island nation in the Indian Ocean, where he was able to send his clients’ money.

Ste-Marie and his children had a company that specialized in credit recovery and helped the three Hells Angels move their money around and into offshore bank accounts based in Mauritius. They charged a 10-per-cent commission on their transactions.

After they were convicted, Felx and the others were sentenced to prison terms of between 42 and 66 months.

But before the trial started, Garneau was asked to rule on a defence motion arguing it took the prosecution too long to prosecute the case. The four accused were first charged, along with Ouimet and Robert, in 2009 and the trial began seven years later. The motion was even argued before the Supreme Court of Canada issued a decision in 2016, commonly referred to as the Jordan ruling, setting very strict limits on how long a person charged with a crime should expect to wait before they have a trial.

Garneau ruled that, while he agreed it took the prosecution too long to bring the case to trial, placing a stay of proceedings on the charges would not have been an appropriate remedy in their case. Garneau wrote that “society has a certain and primordial interest in seeing the accused undergo their trial.”

On Thursday, three Quebec Court of Appeal judges issued their unanimous decision. They ruled that the only remedy available was to have a stay of proceedings placed on the charges filed against all four. They quashed the guilty verdicts and ordered a stay of proceedings on the charges.

“The first (error in Garneau’s decision) is an assumption that an appropriate remedy allows a measure of discretion in the assessment of various factors and that this discretion allows a judge to decline a stay of proceedings if he or she should conclude that it is not an appropriate and just remedy. An unbroken line of jurisprudence since (a precedent-setting case) has held that the only available remedy for a finding of unreasonable delay is a stay of proceeding,” Superior Court Justice Patrick Healey wrote on behalf of all three of the appellate court judges.

SOURCE: Montreal Gazette 

Rebel's Last Ride

June 22, 2020 BTN — Donald Charles Davis, AKA Rebel passed away at approximately 5:00 PM PST on June 19, 2020. Five days earlier, he suffered critical injuries related to an accidental fall. Don was the founder of the Aging Rebel website and author of Out Bad, Expect No Mercy, and The Twin Peaks Ambush.

Don was a notorious supporter, defender, and advocate for the freedom of the outlaw motorcycle club communities. Don was a Vietnam War Veteran, an unwavering defender of his truths, and a man loved and admired by his community.

From the man himself

The Aging Rebel has lived what cynics call an “interesting” life that has included writing for two newspapers.

He was hired by a daily in Massachusetts by mistake when he applied for a job on the loading dock. And, he was fired from another paper in Indiana when, as his Editor put it, that fine journal decided “to project an image of professionalism and respectability.”

He has also been fired from jobs at magazines and has unsuccessfully pursued careers as an autoworker, laborer, ditch digger, warehouseman, window maker, house framer, art forger, novelist and telephone salesman.

Because he loves children, he has always done his best to keep the world from running out of a babies. And, because he loves women he is usually married. Generally unemployed, he likes motorcycles and lifting weights and his ambitions include winning the lottery. Some people say he now lives, more or less, in El Lay.

Marnie, Rebel’s life partner, has created a Gofundme account to support his loved ones with the costs of his memorial and end of life requests in alignment with his personal last will and testament. Link is below.

The staff of the Biker Trash Network sends it's deepest condolences to his loved ones and family.

Major Win For Hells Angels MC

Nanaimo, BC, Canada (June 15, 2020) BTN — British Columbia’s Supreme Court has curtailed the sweeping powers of the provincial Civil Forfeiture Office in a ruling that concluded it could not seize three Hells Angels clubhouses based on a belief that they would be used for future criminal activity.

In a 321-page decision released late last week, Justice Barry Davies struck down a core provision of the provincial Civil Forfeiture Act as unconstitutional, ruling the office’s targeting of property because it is likely to be used to commit crimes in the future intrudes into criminal law – “the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal legislature."

The Hells Angels clubhouse in Nanaimo was seized in 2007

To illustrate his reasoning, Justice Davies posited that, under B.C.'s civil-forfeiture law, dangerous drivers who had served their sentence for killing or severely injuring a pedestrian could have their new car seized as “a future instrument of unlawful activity.” The law’s speculation over potential new crimes also runs counter to the “principles of sentencing enacted by the Parliament of Canada under the Code that have as an objective the rehabilitation of offenders,” he wrote.

Rick Ciarniello, a long-time Hells Angel who acts as a spokesperson for the bikers and who testified in the trial, said Hells Angels living in Manitoba and all parts farther west were asked for monthly donations to fund the 13-year legal fight, which cost more than a million dollars.

“We were probably the wrong people to fight this, but the only ones that had the resources and wherewithal to do it,” Mr. Ciarnello told The Globe and Mail on Sunday. “These were not just the rights of Hells Angels that were being violated; what we did here is we fought for the rights of all British Columbians."

Related | Hells Angels lose clubhouse to forfeiture

Related | Hells Angels MC still fighting for their clubhouse

The judge found the office was only able to prove that the B.C. Hells Angels, an organization with a reputation for violence and multiple members convicted of serious crimes, used their Vancouver clubhouse for a trio of cocaine and methamphetamine deals at least 15 years ago. Justice Davies said it is possible the bikers or their associates could once again use this clubhouse and the two others for such crimes, but the provincial agency did not prove that this is likely.

The office launched its case involving the Nanaimo clubhouse in late 2007. It began proceedings against the Vancouver and Kelowna clubhouses in 2012.

Hope Latham, a spokesperson for B.C.’s Solicitor-General and Minister of Public Safety, whose office oversees the civil-forfeiture system, said it was too early to say whether the ruling would be appealed to the province’s highest court. “For now, the Civil Forfeiture Office and its counsel will take time to review the court’s findings,” she said in an e-mailed statement.

Joseph Arvay, lead lawyer for the Hells Angels in the case, said not only was the law unconstitutional, but the office’s interpretation of the legislation was an overreach. As well, he added, the office had “all the resources imaginable” to prove the clubhouses were instruments of crime and failed to do so.

“Say what you will about the Hells Angels but I think they made an important stand,” Mr. Arvay said. “Almost everybody settles these cases because the risks of going to trial are so great.”

In a 2016 report, the Canadian Constitution Foundation, Calgary-based civil-liberties advocates, looked at eight provincial civil-forfeiture programs across the country and found they often trampled on the rights of citizens and seized property from innocent people. It gave the civil-forfeiture systems in B.C. and Ontario an "F" grade.

Lawyer Bibhas Vaze, who is representing a client in another trial arguing the civil-forfeiture system is unconstitutional, said the ruling is another clear rebuke to the office’s practices. He said in recent years clients have had to sign consent orders to keep their property but allow the office to seize it in the future if the office conducts a spot inspection that uncovers alleged criminal activity.

“The director is engaging in future policing, that’s unconstitutional,” Mr. Vaze said. “There’s a lot of people who think that fairness in the law only applies to certain sets of people, but we’re seeing across North America right now that people are finally cluing in that when you don’t take fairness seriously it results in rampant inequality in our world.”

SOURCE: Times Colonist 

Suspected Outlaws MC Member Arrested After Chase

Brockton, Massachusetts, USA (June 15, 2020) BTN - A 58-year-old Whitman man who police say belongs to the Outlaws motorcycle club was arrested by state troopers for carrying an illegal gun after a high-speed chase through Brockton, according to police.

Troopers assigned to the Massachusetts State Police Troop D Community Action Team saw two motorcycles “traveling much faster than the posted speed limit of 40 miles per hour” on West Chestnut Street in the city of Brockton on Friday.

“Their estimated speed was near 70 miles per hour,” said Massachusetts State Police, in a statement about the arrest that was released on Sunday morning. “As troopers activated their emergency lights in an attempt to stop the motorcycles one of them fled at a high rate of speed toward West Bridgewater.”

State police said they caught up with the motorcyclist, identified as Kenneth McDonald, 58, of Whitman, on Manley Street in West Bridgewater. State police said he is a “suspected member of the Outlaws motorcycle club,” which has been previously designated by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation as an outlaw motorcycle gang.

McDonald was armed with an unlicensed handgun, state police said. Troopers seized his BERSA SA .45 firearm, which was “fully loaded” with seven rounds, including one in the chamber, according to state police, which provided a picture of the handgun, along with an Outlaws leather vest and a black Outlaws “1%er” helmet.

“McDonald does not legally possess a license to carry a firearm in Massachusetts,” state police said.

At that point, McDonald was placed under arrest and transported to the state police barracks in Middleboro. McDonald was charged with carrying or possessing a firearm without a license and carrying a loaded firearm or committing a firearm violation for a second offense, state police said. McDonald was also given a “citation warning” for speeding, police said.

McDonald was released over the weekend on $500 bail and is expected to be arraigned Monday in Brockton District Court.

SOURCE: The Enterprise