Jayme Norman Russell didn't like it when a B.C. Supreme Court judge asked about his forearm tattoos back in January 2009. The persistent questioning by Justice Robert Powers about the Independent Soldiers' tattoos was proof the judge was biased when he found him guilty of drug trafficking, Russell argued to the B.C. Court of Appeal.

But the Court of Appeal disagreed Monday when it threw out Russell's appeal. Justice Pamela Kirkpatrick, who wrote the decision on behalf of a trio of appeal court judges, said Powers was very clear when he found Russell guilty two years ago that he put no weight on whether or not the IS was a gang. He simply used his take on Russell's answers to assess the general credibility of the gangster at trial.