Kim Bolan of the Vancouver Sun has provided the ‘Real Scoop’ on Vancouver Criminal Defence lawyer Joven Narwal’s closing arguments in a cocaine conspiracy case linked to the Hells Angels. In her article she reports,

“Joven Narwal began his closing submissions on behalf of Michael Read, who was charged in 2012 along with the bikers and several associates. Narwal said that while Read was present on a couple of occasions when some of his co-accused met with undercover police officers, he was not a party to conversations about a deal to buy half a ton of cocaine from the purported South American brokers.

Those brokers were actually RCMP officers who spent months meeting with HA member David Giles, conspiracy leader Kevin Van Kalkern and others who were later charged. Narwal opened defence submissions in the conspiracy case.”

She goes on to report aspects of Mr. Narwal’s arguments regarding the unfairness and disadvantages people accused of conspiracy face:

“The disadvantages in my submission are heightened in cases such as this which involve massive investigations with sophisticated investigative techniques and where the Crown has behind it the virtually unlimited resources of the state,”

“They are able to manipulate individuals, to carefully choreograph scenarios, conduct widespread and continual surveillance of individuals to elicit evidence consistent with their investigative theory.”

You can find the full article on the Vancouver Sun website.

The case originally charged criminal organizations offences, however the prosecution of those offences was terminated following successful pre-trial motions. The only offences left in the case involve conspiracy and possession for the purposes of trafficking.