Biker’s future ‘looks bleak’
Poor health should factor in trafficker’s sentence: defence
Mr. Giles is past the point where it’s treatable ... (His liver is) shutting down.
PAUL GILL, David Giles’ lawyer
The failing health of a senior Hells Angel convicted in a major cocaine conspiracy is a mitigating factor on sentencing, a defence lawyer argued Wednesday.
In September, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Carol Ross found David Francis Giles, 66, guilty of conspiracy to import and traffic in cocaine, and possession for the purpose of trafficking.
On Wednesday, the second day of a sentencing hearing for Giles, the accused’s lawyer told the judge that Giles has suffered from cirrhosis of the liver for a long time and that it is at the “end-stage” of the disease.
“That means that unless they do something, you’re done,” Paul Gill told the judge, adding that Giles’ future “looks bleak.”
Gill said Giles also suffers from hepatitis C, which was diagnosed around February 2012, near the beginning of the undercover police operation that resulted in the arrests of Giles and a number of other co-accused.
He said hepatitis C, a virus that attacks the liver, should not normally be fatal and is treatable for many people, but it must be diagnosed within a reasonable time.
“Mr. Giles is past the point where it’s treatable,” said Gill, adding that Giles’ liver was “shutting down” on him.
Gill said he has had trouble getting up-to-date medical information from the North Fraser PreTrial Centre, the prison where Giles is incarcerated, and fears that he might not get the liver transplant that he needs.
“My concern is that he’s never going to get on the real transplant list,” he said.
Gill said that Giles, vice-president of the Kelowna chapter of the notorious motorcycle gang, also suffers from a rare condition involving a loss of brain function related to the loss of liver function.
The Crown earlier said that while the father of three’s medical condition deserves sympathy, the offender had had ill health during the conspiracy and that did not stop him from pursuing his criminal activity.
In describing Giles’ personal circumstances, Gill challenged a submission from the Crown that when Giles told the undercover police officers he was broke and wanted to get his life back, he meant that he was seeking to get back in the drug trade. Gill told the judge that what Giles really meant was that he had lost everything after the Canada Revenue Agency launched an investigation into his tax situation and he wanted to get his finances back. The Crown responded that Giles’ tax litigation case was being pursued in the Federal Court of Canada, another forum. And while the tax case might have put Giles under stress, those considerations were irrelevant to sentencing, said the prosecution.
The Crown argued that Giles played a key role in a reverse-sting police operation that saw Giles and his co-accused paying $4 million for a purported delivery of 200 kilograms of cocaine.
Prosecutors are seeking a jail term of between 18 and 20 years for Giles. Gill has argued that a more appropriate sentence for his client is between 12 and 16 years.
The judge is expected to hand down her sentence on March 31.