And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Date: Thu, 09 Sep 1999 08:40:30 -0400
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED],[EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: Lynne Moss-Sharman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: WARRIORS TRIAL "contestants on a game show"
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Monday, September 6, 1999
Winnipeg Sun
Warriors trial will open new wounds: MLA
Half-brother facing charges
By KATHLEEN MARTENS, COURTS REPORTER
As an Opposition politician, Eric Robinson is used to criticizing
government policy. He was among the first to condemn justice officials for
erecting what he calls "the Indian courthouse" in south Winnipeg. Now his
half-brother will be among 33 defendants tried there in the controversial
Manitoba Warriors' conspiracy case, slated to start tomorrow. Robinson
(NDP-Rupertsland) and Isadore (Izzy) Vermette, the alleged treasurer of the
predominantly aboriginal outlaw street gang, had the same mother. She died
of alcoholism at age 31. Vermette, 38, and two of Robinson's half-sisters
were raised apart from the future MLA, who went to live with his father in
northern Manitoba. Vermette grew up on the streets of Winnipeg and was
placed in a number of foster homes. "He's come up the rough way," said
Robinson, 45. The four siblings met in 1984, but aren't close. Robinson and
Vermette have spoken a few times since Vermette's arrest last November in a
police operation called Northern Snow.
Thirty-three men face dozens of charges. The most serious
accusation is being involved in a criminal organization, which
promises a maximum 14-year prison term on conviction. Manitoba Justice is
prosecuting the alleged gang members together in what will be the
province's largest, longest and most expensive trial.
The case has angered members of Manitoba's native community,
who have protested its slow progress and the fact the accused
have been denied bail. "This trial won't better relations between
aboriginal people and whites," Robinson said. "If I joined four Indians
outside we'd be called a gang." Robinson had his share of problems growing
up: he was sent to a native residential school and struggled with drug,
alcohol and solvent abuse. He said he straightened himself out at age 23
after fearing he would die.
The term "gang" didn't exist when he was growing up and he
believes the description is a misnomer. "Did you have friends you
hung around with in high school? Were you called a gang?" Robinson, who is
seeking re-election in his northern riding, bristles at Justice Minister
Vic Toews' law and order stance. "They have more of a
jail-first-ask-questions-later approach," he said of Toews' regime. "It's
one thing to be tough on crime, you're also responsible for what's
happening on the street." That responsibility should include supporting
opportunities to learn skills that will give at-risk youth and adults an
alternative to street life, he said. "It's no longer an Indian problem,
it's a societal problem. We
have to pull together to fix it. It's easy for people in south
Winnipeg to be critical and not offer solutions."
Robinson said he is still waiting for Toews to finish implementing
recommendations from the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry, which he
said would show a commitment to something other than filling the
province's correctional facilities.
***************
Ottawa Citizen 9/07/99
Most expensive trial in Manitoba history may be on hold
SCOTT EDMONDS
WINNIPEG (CP) - Another delay is likely before federal gang-busting
legislation can be put to the test against 32 alleged members of the
Manitoba Warriors street gang. The longest, costliest trial in Manitoba
history was set to start Tuesday in a special $3.6-million
high-security courthouse carved out of an old industrial building in south
Winnipeg. But late last week, it leaked out that Crown
officials were trying to bargain guilty pleas that might make a trial for
some of the defendants unnecessary. It was expected the courthouse would be
used Tuesday, but sources said the hearing would be brief and the judge
would be asked to grant an adjournment to Sept. 14 to give the bargaining
time to take place.
The desire of the Crown to cut the case down to a smaller size is
understandable. Before the nearly 150 charges can even be considered by
judge and jury, a small army of lawyers is expected to take months going
through a pile of pre-trial motions, including a constitutional challenge
of the gang law. In fact, the real trial isn't expected to start until
sometime in 2000 and the whole process could take up to two years. "It's
pathetic; we could be a year before we even summon the jury," said lawyer
Dave Phillips, whose law firm is representing several of the accused. "We
had originally estimated four months (for motions). We're now up to seven
or eight months. No one really knows."
Then there's the cost. Besides the courthouse, the bill for defence lawyers
alone is expected to hit $8 million, with taxpayers picking up the tab.
Meanwhile, those who were arrested last November during what police dubbed
Operation Northern Snow have been sitting in jail awaiting their day - make
that year or two - in court. "Our feeling is at least some of these people
should be getting bail, but
everybody who has applied has been denied," says Phillips. "I would like to
think that some of them would have gotten bail long ago.
Unfortunately the Manitoba judiciary doesn't seem to agree with me."
It has also angered Manitoba First Nations leaders, who say accused
murderers can get out on bail but alleged aboriginal gang members are
treated differently. The Warriors, like the Indian Posse, the other large
Winnipeg street gang, are largely aboriginal. Both gangs have tendrils that
stretch outside the city and have even been reported reaching into other
provinces. The 1997 anti-gang legislation carries a maximum 14-year
sentence for involvement in a criminal organization of five or more people.
Members of motorcycle gangs in Quebec and Alberta have been charged under
the new law and are awaiting trial. An Ontario man pleaded guilty under the
law in 1997 and was sentenced to five years in prison, although he
tried to withdraw his guilty plea and challenge the statute.
"This will be, to my knowledge, the first true test of the legislation,"
says Phillips.
The case is proceeding by way of direct indictment, which means there was
no preliminary hearing to test the strength of the Crown's case before a
judge who would then decide whether a trial should proceed. Even if the
anti-gang law were struck down, the case against the Warriors would
probably continue. "If the anti-gang law is struck down, these people are
all still charged with other offences such as trafficking in cocaine or
possession of weapons,"
noted Phillips.
Manitoba justice officials have been getting more and more security
conscious in recent years, requiring all visitors to the Law Courts to pass
through airport-style metal detectors, for example, and stationing
machine-gun toting police outside courtrooms where bikers are on trial. But
they decided even those measures weren't good enough for this trial, partly
because of the number of defendants involved. They opted for a
high-security courthouse inside a special compound which they insist they
will be able to use for other cases as well.
© The Canadian Press, 1999
**********************
Tuesday, September 07, 1999
Nation's largest trial off to rocky start
Change of venue sought: High-security Manitoba court
presents barrier to fair trial, say lawyers for gang members
Adrian Humphreys National Post
WINNIPEG - Elaborate plans to house the largest trial in Canadian history
in a specially built courthouse are in jeopardy today with lawyers acting
on behalf of 33 accused street gang members expected to file a motion to
change the location. The province of Manitoba spent $3.5-million converting
an abandoned grain feed mill on the
outskirts of the city into a special, high-security courthouse that could
hold all of the accused, their lawyers, and a jury for a lengthy trial
expected to be the first constitutional challenge of Canada's new anti-gang
legislation.
Sources say seven types of motions are expected from the defence team,
contesting the charges of conspiracy to traffic in cocaine, conspiracy to
possess dangerous weapons and, most notably,
participating in a criminal organization, namely the Manitoba Warriors, a
Winnipeg-based native street gang. The motions will include a request for a
change of venue.
In the months leading up to the high-profile trial, members of the defence
team complained the courthouse would be prejudicial to their clients,
presenting a jury with an image of men so dangerous
that expensive security arrangements had to be made. Although he could not
be reached for comment yesterday, Dave Phillips, whose firm, Phillips
Aiello, represents seven of the accused, has in the past called the
courthouse a ready-made barrier to his clients receiving a fair trial. "It
is bound to be prejudicial to our clients before the jury to have them
brought in under such
security and to see these accused being treated in this way. Getting these
guys a fair trial here is next to impossible," he said.
Although the public has not been allowed inside the new courthouse until
today, it is said the accused will be seated in three rows on an elevated
platform, each of them in a plexiglass booth. It is important for Crown
prosecutors to proceed against all the accused at the same time. The Crown
will attempt to prove they acted in an orchestrated fashion in criminal
conspiracy. Under the revised Criminal Code, participating in a criminal
organization can carry a penalty of 14 years.
In November, 1998, the Winnipeg police Street Gang Unit arrested 35 men and
women in Operation Northern Snow, after alleged cocaine sales by the
Manitoba Warriors from hotels in the city's North End.
Three of those arrested have already pleaded guilty. Some of them are
expected to be called at the trial to testify against the remaining
defendants. Also expected to testify is the alleged sergeant-at-arms of the
gang, the third-highest ranking member
of the Warriors Society. He agreed to co-operate with authorities early in
the investigation and was never charged in this case.
His testimony is expected to lay out the inner workings of the gang.
Although the trial is set to start today and all of the accused will be
brought to court, the proceedings are not expected to last long.
The Crown and defence lawyers are set to agree to a one-week adjournment
for a number of "procedural difficulties," said Bruce Gammon, a lawyer
representing one of the accused. Part of the delay is to allow time for
continued plea bargain negotiations for between seven and 10 of the more
minor players in the alleged conspiracy.
Other motions expected from the defence team in coming months include a
constitutional challenge of the anti-gang legislation; a challenge of the
type of evidence expected to be called by the Crown; dividing the accused
into groups to face trial separately; and the severing of some of the
charges to be dealt with at another time. The case is expected to take up
to two years to complete, with a jury to be selected early in the new year
after all the motions have been dealt with.
With the defence lawyer's bills expected to exceed $8-million, all paid for
by the province's legal aid program, it is expected to become the most
expensive trial Manitoba has ever seen, as well as one of the longest and
largest.
Ottawa Citizen 9/08/99
Warriors trial adjourned for a week
SCOTT EDMONDS
WINNIPEG (CP) - Thirty-two alleged members of one of Manitoba's most feared
aboriginal street gangs sat like CONTESTANTS ON A GAME SHOW
Tuesday as a trial that could make legal history lurched into gear then
slipped back into park.
After sheriff's officers spent half an hour shackling the accused into
individual, half-Plexiglas booths and 26 robed lawyers found spots at five
long rows of tables, Justice Ruth Krindle took only about 10 minutes to
adjourn the show for a week.
"The lawyers are going to meet to try to streamline certain issues in the
hope of either cutting down on the number of the accused, possibly
shortening the trial or both," said Dave Phillips, whose law firm
represents half a dozen of the accused. "All counsel agree that one
further week is necessary to resolve them," Crown counsel Bob Morrison had
said earlier, without going into detail about what the unresolved issues
might be. It's expected that they include possible plea bargains for some
of the accused in what promises to be one of the LARGEST, LONGEST, MOST
EXPENSIVE AND ELABORATE TRIALS IN CANADIAN LEGAL HISTORY.
The bill is likely to be well in excess of $10 million, including more than
$3.5 million for a special courtroom behind the walls of a former feed
warehouse. Three of the 35 PLEXIGLAS CUBICLES THAT LINE ONE WALL OF THE
COURTROOM were empty Tuesday, two because of guilty pleas and one because
of a stay of charges in exchange for testimony since Operation Northern
Snow last November.
That's what police called the raids which they say netted some of the big
fish in the Warriors, along with a few small fry the Crown might like to
cut loose before the real trial starts sometime in 2000. That's when a
jury will march into the specially constructed courthouse if, of course,
the Crown gets past a stack of defence motions to change the venue or
strike down the charges. The accused face various drug, weapons, conspiracy
and prostitution charges but they've also been charged with belonging to a
criminal organization under a 1997 federal anti-gang law. The case is
viewed as the
first real test of that legislation. The defence is challenging the
federal anti-gang law and even the special courthouse on constitutional
grounds. Those and other motions are expected to eat up the remainder of
1999. The anti-gang law provides for up to 14 years in prison for those
who belong to criminal organizations of at least five persons. The Warriors
number about 300 in Manitoba but have tentacles in Ontario, Saskatchewan
and Alberta.
As for the courthouse, which has security more in keeping with a prison,
Phillips said it's hard to imagine a jury not being prejudiced by the
precautions the Crown has taken.
"By having what we call a mega-trial, the perception is created that these
people are probably guilty . . . (Jurors) are going to see a large number
of aboriginal people who are restrained in certain ways. They're all in
custody, none of them have been given bail and the concern is that people
will assume that means they're guilty."
Guards man a chain-link fence where visitors are stopped and told to pick
up passes at a gate-house before heading across a broad concrete lot where
semi-trailers once parked. Inside are more guards as visitors go through
metal detectors and wind past another guard behind more
Plexiglas before entering the courtroom.
The public doesn't get to enter the courtroom. They must watch through
windows from a gallery above.
The accused, who joked and waved at spectators Tuesday, have not yet been
arraigned, perhaps to allow some room for plea bargains.
But when they are, what can be reported about the case will be severely
limited by Criminal Code sections designed to avoid prejudicing a jury.
Phillips, however, questions how a jury can ever be selected for a trial
that could take a year or more. "My personal opinion is if
the trial is in fact going to take 12 or 18 months, we'll never get a jury
that will make it." © The Canadian Press,
1999
September 08, 1999
Prosecutor denies targeting native gang for landmark trial
Defence wants trial moved: Test case for new anti-gang law is
largest trial ever Adrian Humphreys National Post
WINNIPEG - Prosecutors denied yesterday that alleged members of a native
street gang were selected for the first test case of new anti-gang
legislation because they are less able to fund a spirited
challenge.
As the trial of 32 alleged members and associates of the Manitoba Warriors
opened yesterday in a specially-built courthouse, lead prosecutor Robert
Morrison dismissed suggestions by a defence
attorney that this gang was targeted for the landmark case rather than a
well-funded Mafia family or motorcycle gang.
"That is unmitigated nonsense. This is a prosecution of alleged organized
cocaine traffickers and nothing more," Mr. Morrison said.
Dave Phillips, a defence lawyer whose firm represents six of the accused,
including William Pangman, the alleged gang president, said the accused are
generally poorly educated, unemployed and from the
economic underclass. "There is some suspicion that this group was
deliberately targeted due to their lack of sophistication and
lack of monetary resources," he said. The almost two-dozen defence lawyers
seated in rows inside the large courtroom are being paid by the
government's legal aid program. The six Crown lawyers prosecuting the case
are consulting with Department of Justice officials in Ottawa, some of whom
helped write the legislation.
The province has gone to lengths to try the accused together in a case that
will test the legitimacy of a law that makes participating in a criminal
organization an offence punishable by up to 14 years
imprisonment. The number of the accused makes it the largest trial in
Canadian history. The inside of the sprawling, $3.5-million courthouse,
formerly an abandoned grain mill, was opened for
the first time yesterday. It took longer to bring in all of the accused
and seat them in three rows than to deal with the day's
court proceedings. Lawyers on both sides quickly agreed to a one-week
adjournment while they worked on possible plea bargains.
The courthouse was draped in heavy security. The small public gallery,
holding just 35 people, is separated from the courtroom by thick glass
windows that look out above where the jury will sit when
it is assembled in the months ahead. It is all too much for defence
lawyers, who announced officially they will file a motion to change the
location of the trial. "It is likely to create in the jury's mind the
impression these people are probably guilty, otherwise we
wouldn't have this high-security setting," said Mr. Phillips.
Mr. Morrison said prosecutors will fight the motion.
Winnipeg Sun 9/08/1999
Gang trial starts, stops
Proceedings adjourn for plea bargains
By KATHLEEN MARTENS, COURTS REPORTER
The men accused of being members of Winnipeg's largest, adult
street gang took their seats in separate Plexiglas compartments
yesterday in a courthouse built specially for them.
"Welcome to Hollywood Squares," quipped one defence lawyer in
reference to the three-tiered platform holding 32 suspected
Manitoba Warriors.
It was the first day the public was allowed into the courthouse built
specially for these proceedings -- a $3.67-million renovated
seed-cleaning plant on Chevrier Boulevard in Fort Garry Industrial
Park. After the defendants were individually secured to the floor in the
giant prisoner's box, Justice Ruth Krindle opened proceedings in
Canada's first organized crime trial. But lead prosecutor Bob Morrison then
shut them down by announcing that Crown and defence attorneys had mutually
agreed to adjourn for a week. The delay will allow for a number of expected
plea bargains. The remaining accused are expected to enter formal pleas
before Krindle next Tuesday. All 32 suspects are being held without bail.
Members of the general public watched from a glassed-in, second-floor
gallery overlooking the carpeted courtroom.
The 25 defence lawyers and five Crown attorneys sat at long CHERRYWOOD
TABLES on PADDED DESK CHAIRS at a set-up resembling a CORPORATE BOARDROOM.
There are even JACKS FOR LAPTOP COMPUTERS.
A huge PROJECTION SCREEN hangs from the ceiling behind the judge's
bench. Testimony will be carried live via closed-circuit television to the
public gallery and a specially equipped courtroom in the
downtown Law Courts Building. Members of the public and media are required
to sign in at a gatehouse outside the courthouse and have been given
special passes to get into the building. Their bags are then X-rayed as
they pass through metal detectors. Defence lawyers are also required to
wear special photo ID badges.
Defence lawyers have criticized the elaborate security and renovation of
the building itself. Justice officials say it was needed because no
existing courtroom could hold all the accused, who are being tried together
under one indictment.
But the defence says the special quarters send a negative message and they
will use that argument to seek a change of venue for the
trial -- perhaps to a new province. The judge noted she'd heard a
lot about such a motion, but has yet to receive any supporting
documents. Morrison said he couldn't comment on the pending motions, but
did reject criticism the prosecution of predominantly aboriginal
defendants was racially motivated. "(That's) unmitigated nonsense," he said
outside court. "This is a prosecution of alleged, well-organized cocaine
traffickers and nothing more." Security was tight for proceedings in the
former seed-cleaning plant on Chevrier Boulevard.
Winnipeg Sun 9/09/99
Loads of deals
The Plexiglas defendants' boxes were labelled Hollywood Squares on Tuesday,
but yesterday the Manitoba Warriors trial became Let's Make a Deal as
lawyers defending some of the alleged gang members tried to arrange plea
bargains before the mega-trial officially opens.
Sources said up to 10 of the 32 men charged with being members
of a street gang and participating in a criminal organization could
reach deals with the prosecution and enter guilty pleas. There is also a
possibility the trial, now scheduled to begin next Tuesday at the newly
opened Chevrier Courthouse in south Winnipeg, could be postponed another
week to allow adequate time for deal-making.
Potential deals have been offered to "lower-level" accused,
sources said. If the move is successful, the pared-down indictment
would allow for a more streamlined case. Concrete deals could be reached as
early as this afternoon, one lawyer said.
"Let Us Consider The Human Brain As
A Very Complex Photographic Plate"
1957 G.H. Estabrooks
www.angelfire.com/mn/mcap/bc.html
FOR K A R E N #01182
who died fighting 4/23/99
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.aches-mc.org
807-622-5407
