CONVICTED LAWYER QUICK TO APPEAL

Guilty of Helping Drug Traffickers

Louis Pasquin appeared remarkably calm for someone who had just been
told he'd be serving a 54-month prison term for using his position as
a lawyer to facilitate transactions between two alleged drug
traffickers.

After being handcuffed and led into the prisoner's dock of the
courtroom at the Montreal courthouse where he was informed of the
sentence, Pasquin, 49, seemed to know he was just going through a
formality. He was given a quick pat on the shoulder by his lawyer,
Pierre Panaccio, who then dashed off to the Quebec Court of Appeal
across the street to put the finishing touches to filing an appeal.
That allowed Pasquin to leave the courthouse as a free man while he
challenges the verdict that made him the first lawyer in Canada to be
convicted of gangsterism.

Panaccio had begun the filing process days before Pasquin was
sentenced by Quebec Court Judge Carol St. Cyr yesterday.

The judge cited Pasquin's profession as an aggravating factor in the
sentencing. In March, St. Cyr convicted Pasquin of drug trafficking,
conspiracy to do the same and of committing a crime for the benefit of
a criminal organization. Two weeks later, Pasquin was disbarred.

Pasquin's brother Richard, a retired lawyer, said the appeal will be
based in part on challenging how the Criminal Code defines what
constitutes a criminal organization.

"It's just simply unconstitutional. It's too vague and it's too vague
when you relate it to the accusation itself," Richard Pasquin said.

Louis Pasquin emerged as a suspect in Operation Piranha, an SQ
investigation into drug trafficking in the Laurentians, while
investigators were focused on Louis Alain Dauphin, 56, a man with ties
to the Hells Angels.

Dauphin, who is serving a 9-year term on convictions related to
Piranha, was found to be running a network of drug dealers and buying
cocaine from Michael Russell, 54, a pilot who was flying the narcotic
in from British Colombia.

Russell, Pasquin's brother-in-law, met with Dauphin at Pasquin's house
in Lachenaie several times during the fall of 2005. Russell has yet to
be tried in Operation Piranha.

As SQ investigators learned how Dauphin operated, they managed to
seize nearly 50 kilos of cocaine on Oct. 14, 2005. The seizure caused
Dauphin serious financial problems and soured his relationship with
the pilot. Wiretaps recorded early in 2006 suggested Pasquin acted as
a mediator between the two as Dauphin tried to finance another cocaine
purchase.