CRIMINAL-ORGANIZATION CHARGES NIXED

Hells Angels Member Is Found Not Guilty Of Cocaine Trafficking

Prosecutors and police were dealt a blow yesterday when a judge
dismissed criminal-organization charges against a member of the Hells
Angels in B.C. and two associates of the motorcycle gang. After a
five-month trial, David Francis Giles, a full-patch member of the East
End chapter of the Angels, was found not guilty of possessing cocaine
for the purpose of trafficking.

Two associates of the club, David Roger Revell and Richard Andrew
Rempel, were found guilty of possession of cocaine for the purpose of
trafficking and trafficking in cocaine.

Under the law, for Giles to be found guilty of the more serious charge
of dealing drugs for the benefit of, at the direction of or in
association with a criminal organization he would first have had to be
found guilty of possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. But
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Anne MacKenzie found the possession case
against Giles "weak" compared with the cases against Revell and
Rempel. She cited "unreliable" intercepts gathered by police.

"The Crown's interpretation of the evidence is strained," she ruled.
"The actual evidence against Giles, which relates to the possession
offence is weak, and the intercepted discussions the Crown says relate
to the offence are unreliable."

She therefore found Giles not guilty of the criminal-organization
charge. Revell and Rempel were also found not guilty of the
criminal-organization charge because the case had failed against
Giles, their only link to the gang. "It is therefore unnecessary to
consider or address all the evidence called on whether the [East End
Hells Angels] is a criminal organization," said the judge.

The ruling was a setback for the Crown and police since it was the
first time a criminal-organization charge had been dealt with against
an Angel in B.C.

"The Hells Angels are celebrating, but they know that the big battles
lie ahead," said Angels expert Julian Sher, who was referring to two
upcoming trials in B.C. dealing with the same issues.

"It's really important to understand that the judge did not rule that
they're not a criminal organization."

RCMP Insp. Gary Shinkaruk said he's confident the upcoming cases will
result in criminal-organization convictions. "We'll continue to bring
the other charges before the courts with the aim of securing
convictions on the substantive or predicate offences to allow the
judge to put a ruling on the criminal-organization charge," he said.

Charges were laid after police seized eight kilograms of cocaine from
a locker and a secret compartment in a vehicle.

The Crown's case against Giles was based largely on circumstantial
evidence -- including a series of intercepts of Giles speaking at home
and in the East End chapter's clubhouse in Kelowna. Prosecutors argued
that the conversations proved a link between Giles and the drugs and
that in the context of Giles being a full-patch member of the club,
Giles was directing Revell. But the judge said she couldn't agree with
the Crown's interpretation of the evidence and found that there was no
evidence Giles handled the cocaine or that he was a party to the
offence. She also cited what she considered to be the "poor" quality
of the police intercepts and the difficulty in determining what Giles
said.

Sentencing for Revell and Rempel was put over until May 5.

A relieved-looking Giles shook the hands of his lawyer, Richard
Fowler, as he left the courtroom. "I thought the judge did an
extremely admirable job of analyzing a lot of evidence," said Fowler
outside court.

"I think her conclusions are very, very sound in fact and in law."

Federal prosecutor Martha Devlin declined comment.