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Gangsta Rap wasn't welcome. "He only stayed a min- ute," Pasquin testified. "I didn't know what he had in his car." Questioned by Giauque about the relationship he fostered with his Toronto "brother-in-law" and Dauphin, head of the gang du Nord, Pasquin responded Russell and that he knew from the start the nature of their relationship. Indeed, he should have avoided letting his house be a warehouse for cocaine." On April 5, Panaccio sought autho- rization to appeal his client's conviction and requested a new trial on the grounds "[W]e want to act quickly to protect the public if there is a link to [the lawyer's] profession. . . . If he wins the appeal, then the disbarment is dropped." — Sylvie Champagne, Barreau du Québec that he never represented Dauphin in drug cases. "[Dauphin] never said he was involved in drug trafficking and I never doubted he wasn't a drug peddler," Pasquin said. "It was with great surprise" that Pasquin said he learned that fateful October 2005 day, that Dauphin and Russell were implicated in the cocaine seizure. "That's when I understood the interest Dauphin had in Russell." Giauque got Pasquin to admit that he had been mixed up in $1.3-million debt litigation between Russell and Dauphin, but backed out once he realized that Dauphin's debt had been caused by the fall 2005 drug bust. In his ruling, St-Cyr noted the improbability that Dauphin and Russell would have struck up a quick drug conspiracy within months of an innocent introduction by Pasquin, say- ing the lawyer had offered his home to Russell as a pied-à-terre for drug dealing. The judge concluded that Pasquin had changed the locks only to secure 50 kilo- grams of cocaine Russell had delivered to the house for Dauphin. "Taking into account there existed proof of conspira- cy between Dauphin and Russell, these two considerations allow to determine in what measure, according to the balance of probabilities, Pasquin equally participated in the conspiracy," St-Cyr wrote. "It's prob- able to think [Pasquin] was the initiator of the meeting between Dauphin and that St-Cyr erred on a host of facts and law. They include: • Omitting to consider elements of proof that were significant and favourable to Pasquin; • Not allowing access to the entire wiretap recordings judged privileged, restraining Pasquin's right to a full and entire defence; • Declaring Pasquin guilty when cir- cumstantial evidence didn't lead to the sole logical conclusion of guilt; • Omitting to consider the multiplicity of conspiracies; • Finding Pasquin guilty on pure specu- lation and conjecture by: pulling neg- ative inference and promptly declar- ing a professional relationship exists from purely amicable conversations; personally interpreting certain terms when no expertise was presented by the Crown about the sense given them; by neglecting to give Pasquin benefit of reasonable doubt. • Refusing to give Pasquin a separate trial when it was evident the status of lawyer allowed him to be tried inde- pendently from his co-accused made the trial unjust and unfair, contrary to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Salvatore Brunetti, a third client of Pasquin's arrested in the Piranha sweep, didn't learn his lawyer had also been busted until he demanded to see him. Brunetti was a Hells Angel without a home in the summer of 2004. The former full-patch member of the Sherbrooke chapter was the first member of the bik- ers' elite Nomads squad to be released from penitentiary after most of the gang was convicted in the mega-trials that followed the massive 2001 Operation Springtime roundup. The largest sweep of biker gangs in Canadian history involved more than 2,000 officers from the RCMP, Sûreté, Montreal police, and nearly 30 municipal forces that participated in more than 280 searches and seizures as well as 138 arrests. Brunetti was once an enemy of the Hells Angels for plotting to kill two of its members in 1995 while he was part of the rival Rock Machine's death squad known as the Dark Circle. He pleaded guilty in January 1996. In December 2000, he switched allegiance to the Nomads during a truce and was arrested once again in the Operation Springtime sweep. He pleaded guilty to gangsterism and drug trafficking in November 2002 and was sentenced to three years on top of the 20 months he had spent while in custody. Pasquin was one of four defence lawyers representing the Hells Angels who were paid special legal-aid fees of $750 a day, including weekends. Pasquin was almost not the first Canadian lawyer to be found guilty of gangsterism. Fellow Quebec defend- er Benoît Cliche, whose clients have included Hells Angels leader Maurice (Mom) Boucher and the biker boss's son Francis, came close to winning the title. Like Pasquin, Cliche was also arrested as part of a lengthy police investigation. He was among more than 30 people nabbed Nov. 5, 2003, through Operation Hurricane and accused of participating in the drug-trafficking activities of a criminal organization. Cliche was charged with helping con- victed drug dealer Steven (Bull) Bertrand move large quantities of cocaine while the latter was behind bars serving a seven- year sentence at the federal job-training www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com JULY 2009 37