FREE ANGELS TRAFFICKER, SAYS LAWYER

A full-patch member of the Hells Angels who pleaded guilty to
trafficking in large quantities of drugs should walk free, his lawyer
argued yesterday.

In December, John Virgil Punko, a member of the East End chapter of
the notorious motorcycle gang, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to traffic
in 50 kilograms of methamphetamines and five kilograms of cocaine.

Prosecutors said Punko should be jailed for 16 years, reduced to 13
years, five months, after so-called dead time, or pre-sentencing custody.

But yesterday, Punko's lawyer, Richard Cairns, told B.C. Supreme Court
that a significant mitigating factor was that Punko was enticed into
his drug dealing by the RCMP and their police agent Michael Plante.

Cairns told Justice Peter Leask that even before Plante became a
police agent who was offered up to $1 million to infiltrate the club,
as a police informant he had been providing Punko with the narcotic
painkiller Percocet, fuelling his drug addiction and making him
delusional and paranoid.

Cairns admitted Punko was a willing participant and an equal partner
to Plante. "He took to it like a duck to water. He succumbed to his
greed."

He said without considering the behaviour of Plante and the police,
Punko should be sentenced to 41/2 years in jail -- two years after
dead time.

But he said considering the actions of Plante and the police, a lesser
sentence is called for, "such that Mr. Punko would walk out of the
door."

Prosecutor Martha Devlin disputed Cairns' characterization of the
accused's state of mind and said the court should call Punko to testify.

The judge adjourned the sentencing hearing until Monday.

Punko has been in custody since he was arrested in July 2005 during
the RCMP's Project E-Pandora investigation into the East End chapter.

Last year he was sentenced effectively to time served after he was
found guilty of weapons offences. His co-accused, Randy Potts, also
pleaded guilty to drug trafficking. His sentencing is to proceed Tuesday.