Court tosses appeal from biker who shot steroid dealer

An appeal by a biker who was sentenced to 12 years in prison for shooting his steroid dealer in the face has been dismissed by the Court of Appeal of Alberta.

Jason Richard Neilson, a member of a Hells Angels support club known as Tribal, was convicted of attempted murder and related weapons charges on June 21, 2018, after shooting Adam Abumeita in north Edmonton on Aug. 19, 2016.

In a unanimous decision released Wednesday, a three-judge panel threw out Neilson’s appeal, which claimed Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Douglas Mah erred in assessing credibility and that the verdict was unreasonable.

The panel said decisively that the trial judge had considered ballistic trajectory and injury evidence appropriately within the context of Neilson’s and Abumeita’s testimonies as a whole.

“It is apparent that the trial judge considered the inference arising out of the location of the entry wound as but one factor among many which he considered relevant in determining the appellant was not credible,” read the decision, signed by Justices Brian K. O’ferrall, Michelle G. Crighton and Jo’anne Strekaf.

During the trial, court heard from both Neilson and Abumeita about what happened prior to Abumeita getting shot in his car in an alley in north Edmonton.

Abumeita ran to a nearby business, where staff called for help.

He nearly went into cardiac arrest and underwent surgery for his wounds.

Mah rejected Neilson’s claim that Abumeita drew a gun and tried to fire first during the drug deal gone wrong, noting there were “several inconsistencies in the appellant’s testimony.”