The Hells Angels clubhouse in Kelowna has been on the RCMP’s radar for years.
In 2012, police conducted a large cocaine smuggling investigation, resulting in the incarceration of the club’s vice president who later died in prison.
RCMP returned to the clubhouse four years later, seizing a travel trailer that was alleged to have been stolen.
The raids were part of the province’s ongoing efforts to seize Hells Angel clubhouses in Kelowna, East Vancouver and Nanaimo, claiming they’re used to plan criminal activity.
But the province’s case suffered a setback after a judge’s ruling regarding an expert witness.
The witness is Leonard Isnor, a retired detective with the Ontario Provincial Police who spent most of his career investigating outlaw motorcycle gangs.
The Hells Angels tried to have Isnor’s testimony thrown out, arguing that he is biased and, in part, the judge agreed.
Following the 2016 raid, Isnor took several photographs of the clubhouse — inside and out. In his testimony, Isnor concluded that the Kelowna Hells Angels had prepped the clubhouse in advance of the photo shoot, including the placement of children’s toys.
But the judge threw out Isnor’s testimony, saying it was biased.
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“I have concluded that some of Mr. Isnor’s interpretation of some of the photographs of the Kelowna clubhouse and its contents, as well as his commentary and opinion based upon that interpretation, is inadmissible as expert evidence,” wrote Justice Barry Davies.
Isnor also touched on the extraordinary security at the Kelowna clubhouse, suggesting it was excessive. In his report he wrote: “Fencing and gates like this goes beyond protection from burglary or vandalism, there can be only one purpose: to protect the occupants from attacks by rivals and to impede any entries made by law enforcement.”
But the judge threw that out, too, saying Isnor was jumping to conclusions.
Justice Davies wrote: “I find that Mr. Isnor’s suggestion that those at the Kelowna clubhouse are to impede law enforcement are speculative, prejudicial and made without admissible evidentiary foundation. As far as I am aware, all entries into the Kelowna clubhouse by law enforcement have been judicially authorized and were unimpeded.”
The judge concluded that several parts of Isnor’s report cannot be entered as evidence.
The forfeiture trial has been adjourned and will resume in April.
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