No Hells Angels colours were allowed at trial
Should a Hells Angel be allowed to wear his gang colours while attending court proceedings where fellow gang members are accused of murdering for the group?
That’s the situation special constables at the Gouin courthouse found themselves in on Sept. 27, 2013, when Daniel Normand, 57, of the gang’s South chapter, showed up for a court hearing dressed in a jacket that included the Hells Angels notorious death-head patch on his back. Wearing the patch is a sign the man sporting it is a fullpatch member of the world’s most notorious biker gang.
Normand was among the dozens of Hells Angels who were arrested in Operation SharQc, in April 2009. But on that day in 2013 he was a free man. On Oct. 26, 2012, Normand pleaded guilty to being part of the general conspiracy to commit murder, the criminal accusation that was the foundation of the SharQc investigation. The police had evidence almost all of the men who were members of the Hells Angels in Quebec had taken part in a vote in 1994 where they agreed to go to war with rival gangs. By the time Normand entered his guilty plea, he was left with an 11-month prison term to serve.
So when he showed up sporting his gang colours in 2013, for a court date involving gang members who were still charged in SharQc, the special constables manning the security checkpoint at the entrance to the courthouse wondered if he should be allowed in.
One even took pictures while Normand underwent standard search procedures that members of the public are subjected to entering the Gouin Courthouse. Normand’s belt buckle, with the words “Hells Angels” in gold on it, was one of the items photographed. Normand was allowed to sit in the courtroom, with his gang colours on, but other special constables were made aware of his presence.
On Nov. 26, 2013, Madeleine Giauque, the former lead prosecutor in SharQc, filed a motion seeking to have a definitive opinion on the issue. In her motion she wrote that: “the emblems associated with the Hells Angels and other outlaw motorcycle gangs are notably tools of propaganda and intimidation for this organization.
“It is in the interest of justice and its healthy administration to prevent such behaviour from being repeated in the future to avoid any of the interference that can result from it.”
Giauque asked that anyone wearing such emblems on clothing, accessories or even tattoos be barred from entering the courthouse. Lawyers representing the men who were about to go to trial argued there was no evidence that anyone had tried to intimidate anyone at the courthouse since the case began in 2009 and suggested a ruling on the issue was pointless.
In a decision that was subject to a publication ban until the murder trial of five men arrested in SharQc was aborted last week, Quebec Superior Court Justice James Brunton agreed to Giauque’s request, but only in part. He ordered that anyone wearing an emblem or a message associated with outlaw biker gangs could be barred from entering the courthouse.
But when it came to the issue of tattoos, Brunton ordered that all men who wanted to attend court dates related to SharQc be required to wear long-sleeve shirts. As part of the same ruling, Brunton ordered that no more than three motorcycles could be allowed in the courthouse’s parking lot at a time.
It is in the interest of justice and its healthy administration to prevent such behaviour from being repeated.