Not only did Hells Angels Claude Gauthier fail in his attempt to overturn his guilty verdict in the Court of Appeal, the Court of Appeal decided that he will spend more time in the penitentiary.
Gauthier, a member of the Trois-Rivières section, was found guilty of gangsterism, conspiracy, drug trafficking and receiving stolen goods, and was sentenced to nine years of imprisonment following an investigation by the National Security Squad. repression of organized crime (ENRCO) against a network of drug traffickers which operated in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu.
At sentencing in April 2021, the trial judge assessed the period of time spent in preventive detention at 1,291 days, including COVID credit of 195 days, resulting in 5 years and 5 months remaining. to purge.
Between 2020 and 2022, a COVID credit based on a ratio of 1.5 days for each day of pretrial detention was allocated to incarcerated people, due to more difficult detention conditions.
Both the Prosecution and the Defense appealed the case. The Prosecution opposed the 195-day COVID credit granted to Gauthier while the Defense contested the guilty verdict and the nine-year sentence, arguing that his conviction is unreasonable.
Reasonable doubt
Gauthier asserted in particular that the trial judge made a mistake “in his intellectual development by not giving him the benefit of reasonable doubt on certain of the elements making up the circumstantial evidence.” The motorcyclist also disputed the inferences drawn by the judge.
For example, Gauthier claimed that there was no proof that the head of the network, Pascal Facchino, had given him money, that there was a hierarchical link between him and Facchino, that the latter had to pay royalties to the Hells Angels, that the Hells Angels of Trois-Rivières control the Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu sector, that the Hells Angels distanced themselves from drug trafficking activities while maintaining control and that Gauthier possessed a telephone which contained PGP type software (encrypted communications).
The biker also argued that the trial judge should have ruled on the probative value of the records intercepted by the police during the investigation and that they were partly inaudible, incomprehensible or incomplete.
But the Court of Appeal rejected almost all of his arguments, citing in particular testimony from police officers who were experts on bikers heard during the proceedings.
“For the reasons that I have just expressed, I consider that none of the arguments raised by the appellant give grounds for intervention by the Court. The only reasonable inference that can be drawn from the circumstantial evidence presented at first instance is that the appellant is guilty of what he is accused of,” writes Judge Guy Gagnon in a 44-page decision rendered public Tuesday afternoon.
Powers exceeded
As for the 195-day COVID credit, it was calculated and allocated, in Gauthier’s case, on the day of sentencing.
The Court of Appeal concluded that it should have been debated during the determination of the sentence, therefore before it was pronounced, and that the trial judge “did not have the power to grant credit to the beyond what the law already provides.
Consequently, the Court cancels these 195 days of credit, meaning that Gauthier will have to stay in the penitentiary a little longer before being eligible for parole.
“We are very satisfied with the decision. The reasons are detailed and will have a significant impact on all organized crime cases, including the assessment of expert evidence,” he told The Press Me Isabelle Poulin, prosecutor at Serious Crime and Special Affairs Bureau of the DPCP.
Gauthier’s lawyers, Me Mylène Lareau and Me Annie Lahaise, did not want to comment on the decision for the moment.
To contact Daniel Renaud, call 514 285-7000, extension 4918, write to [email protected] or write to the postal address of La Presse.