Canadian Lawyer

12 J U L Y 2 0 1 6 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m \ AT L A N T I C \ C E N T R A L \ P R A I R I E S \ W E S T REGIONAL WRAP-UP A year ago, on July 5, 2015, Win- nipeg family lawyer Maria Mitousis was severely injured when a bomb mailed to her office exploded in her hands. Police moved quickly and two days later Guido Amsel was charged with several serious offenc- es including attempted murder and aggravated assault. In spite of the sever- ity of the crimes — attempted murder carries a maximum sentence of life — it took nearly three weeks before a lawyer would step up and take the case. Mitousis, who had earlier represented Amsel's wife, was not the only person to receive a mail bomb. Another lawyer, who had previously represented the accused, and a third person, who was not a lawyer, were also targeted. Fortunately, those two bombs were intercepted and safely deto- nated by police. The incidents shocked and unsettled Winnipeggers. At a news conference the day after the bombing, Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman said, "We're reeling [from] . . . such ruthless, vengeful attacks." Police received dozens of reports of suspicious packages, and even issued a special warn- ing to the city's legal community about opening packages. The incident inspired an outpouring of sympathy and support for Mitousis. A crowdfunding campaign raised almost $100,000 to support her recovery. At the time, well-known Winnipeg criminal lawyer Jay Prober characterized the apparent targetting of two lawyers as "an attack on the justice system in Mani- toba." Prober went further, telling the Win- nipeg Free Press: "I think he [Guido Amsel] is going to have trouble finding a lawyer in Manitoba to represent him." That appears to be what happened. Prober still defends his position. "I don't know if any Manitoba lawyer could put their heart and soul into [the defence of Amsel]. I couldn't. He attacked one of our colleagues. . . . " But now he says Amsel has found "very good, very experi- enced legal counsel, so things worked out." Jody Ostapiw, president of the Criminal Defence Lawyers Association in Mani- toba, acknowledges some counsel, such as Prober, were repelled by the idea of repre- senting Amsel, but insists not all Winnipeg lawyers were ducking the case. She too points out many in the profession felt they were in conflict because they knew Mitou- sis or the other lawyer or had donated to the crowdfunding campaign. Ostapiw dismisses suggestions there was some kind of "mass movement where lawyers were banding together to say 'we're going to make sure this guy doesn't have a lawyer.'" She says three weeks is not an inordinately long time to get a lawyer, even in a highly publicized case with very serious charges. It appears Amsel did seek counsel out of province but finally found an experi- enced Winnipeger to defend him. "I got a call from Amsel's wife," says Martin Glazer. "I took the case right away." Glazer found the resistance within a legal community professionally and ethically bound by the presumption of innocence surprising. "Jus- tice, and defence lawyers, must be blind to what others think." Glazer did not know Mitousis but agrees lawyers who did were potentially in conflict. However, he says just because two of the victims were lawyers does not rule out all lawyers from acting for Amsel. "Suppose a man is accused of shooting a doctor to death, then the police shoot that person. Would that mean another doctor can't do surgery on the gunman?" Glazer says he has had "one or two people who knew the victims make negative com- ments," but adds a lot of lawyers "have told me privately, maybe not publicly, they applaud me for taking the case." Glazer did seek an out-of-province judge to hear his client's bail review. "It's too local, it's too close-knit, it's too highly charged," Glazer told the court. But Court of Queen's Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal dismissed the application on the grounds there was no "reasonable apprehension of institutional bias." Eight weeks have been set aside for Amsel's trial, set for August 2017. — GEOFF ELLWAND writerlaw@gmail.com Were Winnipeg lawyers slow to defend an unpopular client? MOTORCYCLE GETS A TUNE-UP IN ALBERTA LAW T he legal minds updating Alberta's 13-year-old Traffic Safety Act have made some significant and some small changes to the legislation. Among the smallest changes is the decision to standardize the spelling of motorcycle. Wendy Doyle, the executive director of the Office of Traffic Safety in Alberta, says a review of the act and its associated regulations has revealed motorcycle has been spelled three different ways: motorcycle, motor cycle, and motor-cycle. Doyle attributes the multiple spellings to "administrative oversight." Doyle, who is not a lawyer, says that, as far as she knows, no cases in Alberta or Canada have turned on the exact spelling of the word. Neverthe- less, for the sake of absolute clarity, the drafters of the Alberta legislation have decided to make the act consistent with the spelling in the Criminal Code, so motorcycle, one word, is now standard throughout the Traffic Safety Act. — GE W E S T P R A I R I E S

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