OFF THE WIRE
Drug cases; Courts can't handle caseload, judge rules
The shark bit off more than it could chew.
Superior Court Justice James Brunton placed a stay of proceedings Tuesday on the drug trafficking cases of 29 people among the 136 arrested in the 2009 roundup of Hells Angels and their associates in Quebec.
Brunton rendered the decision at the Gouin courthouse while setting a timetable for five groups of other suspects arrested in Operation SharQc to be tried on charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Brunton criticized the Crown - the Directeur des poursuites criminelles et penales - for signing off on the arrests of so many people without a coherent plan in how to prosecute them all within a reasonable delay.
In all, 156 people were indicted in the case. One has died and 19 are still being sought by police.
"The stay of proceedings that were granted underline that it is not sufficient to adopt a plan of investigation and legal action centred uniquely on gathering proof," Brunton said. "If the (Crown) doesn't proceed in an analysis of the capacity for the justice system to treat the number of accused expected, it risks obtaining the same results" as in Tuesday's decision.
The judge noted that most of those who have been granted a stay of proceedings "are alleged to be relations of the Hells Angels and not members."
Others are alleged to have joined the gang in 2007 or 2008 - after the 1994-2002 biker gang war between Hells Angels and rival crime groups over drug-trafficking turf.
The prosecution contends that Hells Angels involved in the conflict continued to benefit from the war long after it ended.
Twenty-two murders allegedly committed within the context of the conflict are included among the charges.
Brunton placed a stay of proceedings on the cases of 31 people, including two who have yet to be arrested.
Salvatore Cazetta, a founding member of the Rock Machine who later joined the Hells Angels, is among the group of 29.
In his 48-page decision, Brunton said only two courtrooms in Montreal - both at the Gouin courthouse - can hold a so-called megatrial at the same time.
Defence lawyers in the case said a trial involving 20 accused would take at least 32 months, and the prosecution estimated 12 to 15 months.
The defence said printing the written material gathered as evidence in Operation SharQc would create a pile 145 kilometres high - the equivalent of 371 Empire State buildings.
Brunton said most of the people charged with drug trafficking could have been prosecuted in the regions where they allegedly operated.
The prosecutors said they "will probably" ask the Directeur des poursuites criminelles et penales to appeal Brunton's decision.
"First of all, I'm kind of surprised because the judge, in his decision, is giving us certain obligations that I don't think we have - which is, to summarize, that we check out that there are enough judges or courtrooms in the Quebec system," prosecutor Gaston Langevin said.
pcherry©montrealgazette.com
MURDER TRIALS FOR 53 ALLEGED GANG MEMBERS START JUNE 10
Superior Court Justice James Brunton set June 10 as the start of two murder trials - one for 31 alleged members and associates of the Hells Angels Sherbrooke chapter, the other for 22 alleged members and associates of the Quebec chapter.
Murder trials for 16 people allegedly tied to the South chapter and 24 to the Trois Rivières chapter are to begin in 2013.
A trial of 14 alleged members and associates of the Montreal chapter would start in 2015.
According to the timetable, a trial for a group accused only of drug trafficking would have begun in 2015 - an unreasonable delay for those lesser charges, Brunton ruled.
Defence lawyer Daniel Rock said his stance "from Day 1" was that it was a mistake to attach drug trafficking charges to murder cases.
Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Proceedings+stayed+biker+trial/4871392/story.html#ixzz1O1VKObAO
