Taxpayers will pay some of the Hell's Angels legal costs
After an eight year long battle through the courts, the B.C, Civil Forfeiture Office has changed course in it's battle to seize three different Hell's Angels properties. One of those properties is in Nanaimo on Victoria Road.
Getting nowhere with arguments based on past crimes committed by the Hells Angels members, the BC Government is now arguing the properties will likely be used to commit future crimes. A judge has allowed the government to proceed with those arguments however the defendants will be able to recover a portion of their costs incurred defending now-abandoned allegations of past unlawful activity.
A criminologist at Simon Fraser University feels the public should be concerned about how far the B.C. government has gone from the standard of forfeiture of property after someone has been convicted in criminal court. They are now saying they are going to seize property because they think you might end up engaging in crime. That is described as a really, nasty slippery slope.
The entire article in the Vancouver Sun can be seen HERE.
This is starting to remind me of the city taking a pre-emptive strike at Jane and John Doe for what the anonymous citizens MAY have done to stop work at the Colliery Dams!
ReplyDeleteKev