Charges upgraded to 1st-degree murder for 2 Vikings members accused in Dale Porter killing

The charges against two men accused in the 2014 stabbing death of Dale Porter in North River havebeen upgraded to first-degree murder.

Allan Potter, 53, and Daniel Leonard, 35 both members of theVikings Motorcycle Club were originally facing charges of second-degree murder, but following an investigation and consultation with the Crown Attorney's Officethose charges were upgraded on Friday.

Leonard is also facing an additional charge of accessory after the fact.

According to a RCMP news release Monday, the offences "relate to a murder that is committed for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a criminal organization."

The pair are being held in custody and will be back in court on Friday, Feb. 17.

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Porter, 39, was stabbed several times, and found outside his home in North River, Conception Bay North, in June 2014. Helater died in hospital.

Sources have told CBC News that he had been drinking at a bar in Bay Roberts earlier that night and had taken a taxi home, with three other people two men and a woman.

He was discovered lying in the drivewayby occupants of a second cab bringing people to the North River house.

Last September, RCMP and RNC officers raided several known biker clubhouses, arresting 10 men. One of the locations, a home on Cabot Street in St. John's, was owned by Leonard.

Porter, a fisherman and a truck driver, had no criminal record.