After trying to avoid the inevitable for six months, three leaders of one of the largest GHB production networks in the country finally received their prison sentences on Friday. The criminals from Montreal’s north shore have been making numerous requests all year in the hopes of withdrawing their guilty pleas.
“It’s back to square one,” illustrated Crown prosecutor Me Steve Baribeau Friday morning, at the Saint-Jérôme courthouse, before Judge Kathlyn Gauthier.
The starting point was January 29. Jean-Philippe Robitaille (5 years old), Éric Matte (6 years old) and Sébastien Turcotte (7 years old) were then to be sentenced to five to seven years in prison. This settlement had been reached two months earlier. The three traffickers had admitted their guilt on several counts in exchange for this joint sentence suggestion.
But the three men — who were then at large — reversed course that January morning. They fired their lawyers and asked to withdraw their guilty pleas. But a judge sent them to prison anyway, much to the dismay of their new lawyers. For six months, the defendants tried everything they could to reverse their decision. One judge even recused himself from the case, while one lawyer asked another judge to do the same.
Last May, Judge Kathlyn Gauthier ultimately refused to allow the accused to withdraw their guilty pleas, since the accused were “fully aware” of their decision at the time. Essentially, the three men were challenging the validity of Health Canada’s certificates of analysis. An argument that was not accepted by the judge.
At this point, the defense still had the option of reneging on the initial sentencing agreement. However, that would have allowed the Crown to seek harsher sentences. A risky bet. The parties finally agreed Friday to keep the initial agreement, setting sentences of five to seven years in custody.
Sébastien Turcotte, 44, Éric Matte, 43, and Jean-Philippe Robitaille, 46, were dealing in very large quantities of GHB, better known as the “date rape drug.” Their production lab in Terrebonne had a substantial production capacity.
According to the evidence presented at the bail hearing, the men could have produced between 14 and 43 million doses of GHB with the quantity of chemicals purchased during the police investigation. Judge Sophie Lavergne had also recalled that GHB was wreaking “havoc on society.”
The case returns to court in the fall to finalize some details regarding the confiscation of assets.
The defense lawyers were Me Samuel Cozak, Me Carl Devost Fortin and Mathieu Giroux. Me Alexis Marcotte Bélanger represented the public prosecutor with Mr.e Baribeau.