Ernie Dew, former head of the Manitoba Hells Angels,
is standing trial on drug charges for the second time..
http://www.globalwinnipeg.com/Second+drug+trial+former+biker+boss+begins/4385511/story.html
The former head of the Manitoba Hell’s Angels headed into a Winnipeg court room Friday morning for the start of his new trial on drug trafficking charges.
The Crown outlined its case against Ernie Dew, the one-time biker boss, detailing a number of alleged cocaine deals between Dew and a paid police informant who wore a wiretap.
Before the start of the case, defense counsel attempted to have the wiretap evidence thrown out, but Friday morning, the judge rejected the motion.
The recorded evidence led to the arrest of a dozen bikers and their associates in February 2006. The informant, a career criminal, was paid $500,000 by Manitoba Justice and is in the witness protection program living in an undisclosed location under a different name.
He is set to testify again next week.
Dew was found guilty in 2008 and originally sentenced to 13 years in prison, but won a new trial on appeal. At his first trial Dew represented himself for the first two weeks of the proceeding, and the province’s high court determined that was unfair.
