The first preliminary hearing in the Project Forseti guns and drugs case was over as quickly as it began.
Armand Leigh Hounjet, 44, was the first of 21 suspects to set a preliminary hearing date after the police raids that targeted alleged Fallen Saints and Hells Angels members in January 2015.
The hearing didn’t proceed on Tuesday in Saskatoon provincial court, however, after Hounjet’s lawyer, Morris Bodnar, and Crown prosecutor Lynn Hintz agreed to a consent committal to trial. Preliminary hearings are normally held in front of a judge, who determines whether there is enough evidence to commit the matter to trial.
With the Crown planning on running a “paper prelim” — relying on documents and witness statements rather than calling testimony — Bodnar said having an actual hearing would be “useless” to him because he already has the information disclosed by the Crown.
The main witness Bodnar wanted to hear from — and have the opportunity to cross-examine — at the prelim was Noel Harder, the police informant at the heart of the investigation, who went into witness protection following the takedown.
“We wanted him here because he’s the one setting it up and we believe it’s a set-up on all the charges,” Bodnar said. “We’ll deal with that at trial, I guess.”
Hounjet, an alleged member of the Fallen Saints Motorcycle Club, faces dozens of charges, including participating in a criminal organization, weapons trafficking, aggravated assault and trafficking marijuana.
He was arrested following dramatic morning police raids in three provinces on Jan. 14, 2015, that followed a 15-month investigation dubbed Project Forseti. Police say they seized more than $8 million worth of illegal drugs, including cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and fentanyl, and hundreds of firearms.
Although Hounjet was initially released on $10,000 bail, he was later rearrested and is in custody.
Only one of the people charged in connection with Project Forseti has resolved his charges. Terry Eide, a full-patch member of the Hells Angels, was sentenced in December to eight years in prison. He pleaded guilty to trafficking cocaine in a deal set up by Harder in November 2014, as well as possessing cocaine and a loaded prohibited firearm when he was arrested in January 2015.
The next step for Hounjet will be setting trial dates in Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench, possibly in the fall.
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