RCMP AGENT WAS LOOSE CANNON - LAWYER

Police Put 'Community In Danger' By Tolerating Drug Dealings,
Violence

The public was endangered by a police agent's drug dealings and
violence while infiltrating the Hells Angels, a defence lawyer said
yesterday.

The comment was made by Greg DelBigio in final arguments for an
abuse-of-process application seeking to throw out drug charges against
his client, Ronaldo Lising, a full-patch member of the club.

Lising was arrested along with 17 others in July 2005 during a
$7-million RCMP investigation that targeted the club's East End
chapter. Police hired Michael Plante, an associate of the club, to
infiltrate the Angels, signing him to a contract worth up to $1 million.

The application heard several months of testimony last year. The Crown
admits it will be forced to stay the charges against all of the
accused if it loses.

Police have testified that drug deals made by Plante during his
dealings with the club were covered by a legal exemption, but DelBigio
disputed those claims.

He said that, prior to being hired as an agent in July 2004, Plante
was a police informant but was not covered by the exemption and was
heavily involved in methamphetamine deals and extortions.

Even after Plante became an agent, said DelBigio, he committed crimes
not under exemption.

"The police were under a duty to ensure their policies were being
complied with and yet the policies were not," DelBigio told B.C.
Supreme Court Justice Victor Curtis.

"The police were under a duty to ensure that the community was not
endangered through Michael Plante's actions and yet the community was
in danger."

DelBigio argued that Plante continuously acted outside his role, but
police tolerated it and while police had the "contractual power" to
cancel their contract with him, they did not do so.

"It is not an excuse or a justification to say that Plante was a
difficult person in difficult circumstances. That is not a defence to
what is otherwise criminal conduct."

A lawyer for Lising's co-accused, Nima Ghavami, is expected to make
arguments today and the Crown is expected to begin final arguments
tomorrow during what is expected to be a weeklong hearing.

In a separate development yesterday, Lising lost his bid to quash his
transfer from the medium-security prison in Mission to the Kent
maximum-security prison.

Lising argued that corrections officials failed to provide enough
disclosure about the transfer, but B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bill
Smart found that sufficient information was provided.

Lising was moved to Kent last year following allegations that he and a
group of associates were targeting protected-custody inmates.