POLICE PUT HELLS' TRIAL AT RISK

Judge Furious Orders For Discrete Security Disobeyed

POLICE and justice officials nearly derailed the high-profile criminal
trial against Hells Angel Ian Grant by disobeying a judge's order
surrounding security issues for undercover agent Franco Atanasovic.

The near-miss occurred several weeks ago but can only be reported now
because jurors are sequestered. Deliberations began just after 1 p.m.
Thursday and will resume this morning after jurors spent the night in
a hotel.

Queen's Bench Justice John Scurfield was furious after learning a
total of 14 officers -- many carrying sub-machine guns and wearing
camouflage -- had filled the second-floor hallway of the downtown Law
Courts on the first day Atanasovic was to testify.

The main cause of his anger was the fact jurors were paraded by the
show of force on their way into court that morning. That prompted
defence lawyer Ian Garber to make an immediate motion for a mistrial,
saying his client's right to a fair trial had been prejudiced.

Scurfield had previously ordered that any security concerns be handled
discreetly and certainly not in the presence of jurors. For instance,
he allowed armed officers to sit inside the courtroom provided they
wore business attire and didn't display their weapons.

"I wanted as much subtlety as necessary," Scurfield said on the
morning of the motion.

"What I'm hearing is a violation of that request by me."

The police head of security, Sgt. Rhys Hanson, was forced to take the
witness stand in the jury's absence and be grilled about the police
operation.

"Isn't it true you wanted the jury to see this spectacle?" asked
Garber.

Hanson said police were simply taking what they felt were the
necessary steps to protect Atanasovic, who clearly made some new
enemies by working undercover for a year to infiltrate the local Hells
chapter.

Scurfield seriously considered calling an abrupt end to the case based
on what happened but decided the best course of action was to strongly
caution jurors that nothing they saw should be held against Grant.

"This is a very serious matter, and I am not happy with the
explanation I've received. There wasn't even any effort made to
insulate the jury from the show of force," said Scurfield.

"But I don't believe this is a situation that is unsalvageable."

Arrangements were also made to reduce the visible amount of security
and ensure jurors would no longer witness any of it on their way into
court.

Still, the issue is likely to be a major point of appeal should Grant
be convicted.

Grant has pleaded not guilty to nine charges including drug
trafficking, extortion, possession of proceeds of crime and
participating in a criminal organization. Scurfield delivered a
three-hour charge Thursday morning by summarizing much of the evidence
jurors heard during the 37-day trial.

Grant was repeatedly caught on audio surveillance threatening violence
against Atanasovic, the former career criminal turned police agent,
over a $60,000 drug debt. Grant was also found to have marked police
money used to purchase drugs inside his safety deposit box.

Garber has conceded his client has no real defence against the
proceeds of crime and extortion charges. However, Grant is taking
issue with the drug trafficking and criminal organization allegations.

Garber accused police of "compromising the integrity of their
investigation" by allowing Atanasovic to run wild during the year-long
probe, in which the agent admits to lying, cheating and even stealing
money from his handlers.

Garber told jurors they can't trust anything Atanasovic said about his
alleged dealings with Grant.

"Every time he opens his mouth, he tells a lie," he said.

Grant was never caught actually selling drugs to Atanasovic. Instead,
drug deals involving Grant's associates were seen to go down, with
Atanasovic pointing the finger of blame towards Grant.

The Crown has urged jurors to simply follow the money trail as there
is no other explanation for how the police cash got into Grant's hands
if he wasn't the mastermind behind the drug buys.