The government's nationwide case against members of the Hell's Angels could be jeopardized by a mistrial declared in one case after a disclosure that the chief informant lied about his history of cocaine use.
Informant Anthony Tait had testified that he took cocaine twice in his life and also used marajuana but stopped because "they made me violently ill."U.S. District Judge Robert Schnacke on Monday declared a mistrial in the case of Michael Lessard, 39, a member of the motorcycle gang's Oakland chapter, after learning Tait admitted to the FBI in 1985 that he had been a regular cocaine user.
Lessard is charged with four counts of illegally possessing explosives.