Accused Vikings granted delay ahead of drug trafficking trial

A Supreme Court judge has granted a delay in the case of three men accused of trafficking drugs for a Hells Angels affiliated biker gang.

Vince Leonard Sr., Wayne Johnson and JamesCurranwere set to start trial on Jan. 15, but had those dates erased from the court calendar after their defence lawyers argued there wasn't enough time to deal with 60,000 pages of disclosure handed overbyCrown prosecutors in October.

The delay opensa path for the defence to eventually filea Jordan application a motionfor a stay of proceedings due to a lengthy process.

If that application is filed, and is successful, the three menwould never be prosecuted for the charges against them.

All trials inSupreme Court must begin within 30 months of charges being laid. For the accused Vikings, that date is coming up on March 28.

A Jordan application is only successful if the delays are the fault of the prosecution, which the defence argues is true in this case.

Pre-trial housekeeping

Before a trial can commence, defence lawyer Mike King said he needs to file an application for the Crown to turn over evidence relating to a police agent used in the investigation. On Tuesday, the judge set a date to argue the application on Feb. 4.

If King is successful, he will receive more documents and require more time to comb through them pushing back the trial date even further.

There are several other applications which also need to be heard before a trial.

They question the covert methods used by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Royal Newfoundland Constabulary in their investigation.

The defence lawyers declinedcomment on Tuesday, with one of them saying they don't want to reveal their pre-trial strategies.