Hell's Angel Groupie Judge Peter Leask At It Again
Greg Carr
serious drug trafficking offences. The Crown immediately appealed.
B.C. Justice Peter Leask decided a number of mitigating factors would
reduce the sentences of Hells Angels members John Virgil Punko and
Randy Richard Potts, including Potts' chronic back pain and a
recurring abscess on his buttocks that causes him considerable pain
and discomfort.
The judge sentenced Potts to one year in jail, which was much less
than the 12 years requested by federal prosecutor Martha Devlin.
Punko, 43, was handed a 14-month sentence. The Crown had asked for 16
years.
The Crown immediately filed appeals in the B.C. Court of Appeal,
seeking to have the sentences increased.
During sentencing, Leask said both bikers were "pawns of police"
because they were low-level targets used to try to get to high-level
targets within Vancouver's East End chapter of the Hells Angels.
The bikers were charged in 2005 after a two-year, $10-million police
investigation code-named Project E-Pandora. A total of six Hells
Angels and 13 associates were charged.
Potts and Punko were the last to be prosecuted.
RCMP Insp. Gary Shinkaruk, the officer in charge of the investigation,
said there were obvious discrepancies between Friday's sentences and
the lengthy prison terms sought by the Crown.
"We certainly respect the position of the court," he said. "Sentencing
is extremely complex. I would never question what a judge brings
down."
Asked about Potts and Punko being called "pawns of police," Shinkaruk
said: "Investigating criminal organizations is extremely complicated.
... We certainly worked within the means of the law."
Potts and Punko pleaded guilty last Dec. 7 to trafficking cocaine,
possessing more than $387,000 cash that was the proceeds of crime and
conspiring to produce methamphetamine in a drug lab and distribute it.
The guilty pleas came after Leask last year tossed out the criminal
organization charges, which alleged Potts and Punko committed their
drug crimes for the benefit of a criminal organization -- the East End
Hells Angels.
Leask concluded the Crown could not proceed on the criminal
organization charges because a jury last summer had acquitted Potts,
Punko and two other Hells Angels members of similar charges. The Crown
is also appealing that ruling by Leask.
During sentencing Friday, Leask said he would have sentenced Punko to
six years in prison if the case had gone to trial, but deducted one
year for pleading guilty, deducted another year for the "police
involvement in creating the crimes" and gave 34 months' credit for the
time Punko served in pretrial custody.
The judge found that police used an agent, Michael Plante, who fed
Punko's addiction to the prescription painkiller Percocet and got
Punko involved in methamphetamine production.
Punko, 43, also sold Plante five kilograms of cocaine. Plante
infiltrated the East End Hells Angels by being accepted to apply as a
Hells Angels member.
Punko was previously convicted of cultivating marijuana, mischief
under $5,000, contempt of court for refusing to testify at another
Hells Angels trial and for threatening a prosecutor at a Hells Angels
trial in 2002.
Potts, 49, had a previous criminal record for possession of stolen
property and using a stolen credit card, careless use of a firearm and
possession of property obtained by crime.
Potts pleaded guilty last year to being involved in a meth lab with
Plante and selling him 28 ounces of cocaine.
The judge found Potts was not a sophisticated criminal and was, at the
time of his crimes, an alcoholic addicted to Percocets supplied by
Plante.
Last summer, a jury convicted Punko, Potts and two other Hells Angels
members, Ronaldo Lising and Jean Violette, of weapons offences and
extortion.
nh...@vancoversun.com
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Appeal court orders new trial for accused drug dealer
Panel finds trial judge made a number of errors
By Neal Hall, Vancouver SunMarch 13, 2010 Three judges of the B.C.
Court of Appeal on Friday ordered a new trial for Nima Ghavami, who is
accused of distributing and trafficking methamphetamine with members
of the Hells Angels.
Ghavami is accused of actively participating in a plan to produce and
distribute methamphetamine by handling about $100,000 cash and 14
kilograms of methamphetamine over a one-year period.
The trial judge, Justice Peter Leask, previously entered a judicial
stay of proceedings of the charges against Ghavami because of a
44-month trial delay, which the judge found was caused mostly by the
Crown.
Leask concluded that the trial delay violated Ghavami's constitutional
right to a trial within a reasonable amount of time.
After the stay, Ghavami, a former strip-club bouncer, said he was
planning to attend law school in Victoria.
He will have to put that plan on hold to see what transpires at his
trial.
The Crown appealed Leask's ruling and three appeal court judges found
the trial judge made a number of errors.
The appeal panel found that while a 44-month trial delay was "a very
long time," it did not infringe on Ghavami's right to a trial within a
reasonable time. The appeal court panel noted that Ghavami was on bail
under strict conditions, which were relaxed as time went on, while
awaiting trial.
"When balanced against the public's interest in the trial of the
allegations, the balance favours a trial," Appeal Court Justice Ian
Donald said in written reasons released Friday.
"This was a complicated prosecution arising from a difficult
investigation, alleging very serious misconduct. As it unfolded, it
required the time it took," said the judgment, which is online at:
http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/jdb-txt/CA/10/01/2010BCCA0126.htm
The Crown is appealing a number of rulings made by Leask.
nh...@vancouversun.com
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Judge Leask is a disgrace to the bench and should resign. Google group
search, "Judge Peter Leask" for more info.
