And now:[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
Date: Sat, 09 Oct 1999 10:22:25 -0400
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED],[EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: Lynne Moss-Sharman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: anti gang legislation (Warriors trial) test case?
October 9, 1999 Anti-gang law goes on trial
Legislation aimed at organized crime has its first test in a Winnipeg courtroom
By Michelle Shephard
Toronto Star Crime Reporter
WINNIPEG - The ghosts of two Canadian boys hang over a $3.67 million courthouse built
to accommodate 35 defendants, their two dozen defence lawyers, a team of prosecutors,
an army of guards and a landmark trial to test the country's new anti-gang law. Four
years ago, Daniel Desrochers was killed when a bomb shattered a north-end Montreal
neighbourhood. The 11-year-old boy was playing in front of a nearby school on the
afternoon of Aug. 9, 1995 when a parked Jeep exploded, killing the driver and sending
debris flying 50 metres. Daniel was struck in the head. Police attributed the bombing
to an ongoing war between the motorcycle gangs Hells Angels and Rock Machine.
`This law comes along and says we can now potentially go after somebody perhaps
unjustly for guilt by association.' - Clay Powell Defence lawyer
A cry went up for a tough anti-gang law. Just a month earlier, on a July night in
Winnipeg, a 13-year-old boy named Joseph Spence was shot in the head as he ran from a
van of teenagers. His nickname was ``Beeper.'' The last image he had, before he tried
to run, was of a sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun, held by a teenage boy, poking out of the
vehicle window. In the van were other members of a street gang known as Deuce, with a
mission that night to shoot an Indian Posse gangster. They found Beeper. Manitoba
street gangs gained national attention. Two years later, Ottawa brought in
legislation intended to curb gang violence. One section made it a crime to participate
in a criminal organization - a new Criminal Code offence punishable by 14 years in
prison. Although the boys' slayings are unrelated to charges now brought against two
dozen alleged gang members, their deaths pushed street gang violence front and centre
and set the stage for the trial under way here - one that will s!
!
erve
as the first test for the new legislation.
It was armed with the anti-gang law that Winnipeg police launched a year-long
investigation that resulted in the arrest of 35 alleged members of the Manitoba
Warriors, a native street gang, last November. They were charged with dozens of drug,
prostitution and weapon offences. The list of charges included participating in a
criminal organization. Various guilty pleas and deals with the crown for immunity have
dropped the number of accused to 22. This week, the remaining defendants pleaded not
guilty as the pretrial portion of the trial began. It's a trial that could last as
long as two years and cost close to $10 million, making it one of Canada's longest and
most expensive. Although the pretrial hearing is just under way, the controversy
surrounding the case and the anti-gang law is much older. Some defence lawyers have
balked at the speed in which the legislation was enacted, saying it was a political
reaction to Quebec biker wars in 1997. ``This law comes along and says we !
!
can
now potentially go after somebody, perhaps unjustly, for guilt by
association,''defence lawyer Clay Powell said yesterday. ``It extends the definition
of criminal responsibility beyond what was already in the Criminal Code . . . and I
think that was totally unnecessary.''
Earlier this year, Robert Morrison, lead prosecutor in the Winnipeg case, also faced
suggestions by defence attorneys that the accused, alleged members of a native street
gang, rather than a well-funded motorcycle gang or Mafia family, were targeted to test
the law. ``The anti-gang legislation was designed to deal with people involved in
organized crime,'' says Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First
Nations. ``You take that into Manitoba with its law-and-order stance and what better
way to test the law than attack a so-called gang that's not resourced,'' he adds
sarcastically.
RCMP Superintendent Ben Soave, who leads Canada's combined forces special enforcement
unit, worries that the anti-gang law may not have enough scope. ``It's supposed to be
an effective tool in fighting organized crime, but if it's practical, why is it not
being applied more often?'' he asks. He maintains the law was fashioned to fight
Quebec's organized motorcycle gangs and may not be broad enough to encompass other
organized groups or combat the recent trend in which new alliances are forming between
different ethnic gangs. This week in Toronto, members of alleged Russian organized
crime groups and Asian gangs were linked and arrested after an undercover operation.
The anti-gang law contained in Bill C-95 came into being swiftly and quietly in the
spring of 1997. Introduced in the House of Commons on April 17, the legislation
received royal assent eight days later and became law on May 2.
It included the section on participation in a criminal organization, which states that
groups of five or more involved in joint criminal activity can be sentenced to a
maximum of 14 years in prison. ``This will help police put out of business those whose
business is organized crime,'' then-justice minister Allan Rock said. Police in
Winnipeg's two-year-old street gang unit were watching the new law closely, hoping it
could help them crack down on the city's growing gang problem. Detectives in the vice
and street gang units began what they dubbed Operation Northern Snow in the fall of
1997, gathering intelligence on various alleged gang members. In November, 1997, they
made their arrests with more than 100 charges, including participation in a criminal
organization, brought against 35 alleged members. Although police in most major
Canadian cities monitor street gangs, in the past five years, Winnipeg's gangs have
evolved to include more members and a stronger structure. Polic!
!
e no
w estimate the city has 1,600 active gang members and associates working in the city,
with tentacles reaching outside the province.
``We've found that those involved in the street gangs carry out a disproportionate
amount of crime in the city,'' Sergeant Rick Lobban said in an interview earlier this
week. Crack cocaine is the latest demon. As one detective puts it: ``Crack has
finally taken hold of Winnipeg.'' The two largest rival gangs - with suspected ties
to well-known motorcycle gangs such as the Los Brovos, a chapter of Hells Angels - are
the Manitoba Warriors and Indian Posse, groups specializing in drug and prostitution
rings.
On Sept. 7, the Winnipeg public got its first glimpse of where $3.67 million of their
tax dollars had gone. Since no court facility could hold 35 defendants, a courthouse
was built by converting a seed-cleaning plant on Chevrier Blvd. in Winnipeg's south
end. ``Welcome to Hollywood Squares,'' murmured one of the more than two dozen defence
lawyers as he looked at the three-tiered platform where the defendants would sit. This
week as court began, close to 30 officers of the sheriff's department led the shackled
suspects to their seats, which are separated by Plexiglas. A public gallery looks
down on the men, who throughout the proceedings shifted in their seats, slouching,
until one had to be shaken awake. Robed lawyers sit at 10 long cherry wood tables in
front of the accused. A massive screen behind Justice Ruth Krindle broadcasts the
trial to Courtroom 320 in the downtown Winnipeg law courts complex. Court officials
decided to show the trial live for the public, family memb!
!
ers,
lawyers and reporters who couldn't get to the Chevrier courthouse, about 25 minutes
south of the city.
Legalists soon discovered it's not just laying the charges that is complicated -
taking these trials to court is also proving a logistical nightmare. The province and
Ottawa may end up with a $10 million bill for the Winnipeg trial, including the price
of the new courthouse, publicly funded defence lawyers and tight security. Jury
selection, which is expected to draw from a pool of at least 1,200 potential jurors
starting sometime in the new year, has also become a major concern. Twelve jury
members, paid $30 a day, devote more than a year listening to testimony. And months of
pretrial motions, including one expected to challenge the constitutionality of the law
itself and another asking for a change of venue, will tie up the proceedings until
2000.
At one point during this week's proceedings, Krindle, visibly annoyed by the
continuous flow of lawyers' comments, and waiting to hear the pleas of the remaining
accused, said tersely: ``Let's just get started . . . this is not going to be an easy
trial to do.''
October 9, 1999 Warriors bigwig accepts plea deal 22 defendants left
By KATHLEEN MARTENS -- Winnipeg Sun Courts Reporter
The first -- but likely not the last -- high-level Manitoba Warrior pleaded guilty
yesterday reducing the number of accused in a complex case to 22. And more plea
bargains are expected next week, sources say, as suspects mull over the latest
sentencing offers from prosecutors. Originally, 35 alleged members of the outlaw
street gang were charged with organized crime and drug trafficking as part of police
Operation Northern Snow last November. But two low-level dealers for the gang also
entered guilty pleas yesterday, bringing to 12 the number to bail from the estimated
18-month trial. A 13th suspect's charges were dropped after he agreed to testify
against the others. Donny Edward Daigneault, 24, pleaded guilty yesterday to
conspiracy to traffic cocaine and accepted a six-year sentence. Crown attorney Bob
Morrison said Daigneault was "one step" below executive members of the gang and
received cocaine for distribution directly from the top. "Mr. Daigneault had a
central role i!
!
n th
e Warriors for some time," Morrison told Justice Brenda Keyser.
'FRINGE' MEMBERS PLEAD OUT
As part of the latest plea-bargains offered to suspects, the Crown is taking time
spent in pre-trial custody into account. "The Crown has softened its hard line," one
defence lawyer said yesterday. Gordon Pelletier and Osama Zeid also took deals
yesterday. Keyser sentenced them each to two years in prison for single counts of
trafficking cocaine. Morrison said they sold drugs in inner-city hotels and to
prostitutes on the low-track. "These two are on the absolute fringe (of the gang)," he
said. Zeid's mother, who has attended all of his court appearances, cried throughout
the sentencing and was so overcome with emotion she later collapsed in a woman's
washroom. She was taken to hospital for observation.
October 9, 1999 Gang-banger cut up, forced to bark like dog
By KATHLEEN MARTENS -- Courts Reporter
A man forced a rival gang member to bark like a dog between slicing him up with a
razor knife. In what the judge yesterday called a "degrading and violent" attack last
February, the male victim got down on his hands and knees and complied. No one tried
to stop the humiliation inflicted by Steven Darren Traverse because it was
gang-related, noted Crown attorney Neil Cutler. Traverse, 20, subjected the victim to
further pain via a boot to the face because "he wasn't barking loud enough," Cutler
added.
'THAT'S A LOT OF SUTURES' The kicks, punches and cuts required 83 stitches. "That's a
lot of sutures," said Associate Chief Justice Jeffrey Oliphant. "He's going to be
scarred for the rest of his life." Traverse pleaded guilty to assault with a weapon
and received a jail term of two years less a day. He believed the victim assaulted his
girlfriend and pulled her hair, explained defence lawyer Miranda Harder. The victim
refused to identify his attacker and couldn't be found to testify. It is believed he
has left the province, the prosecutor added.
"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
