GUILTY VERDICT IN DRUG DEALER'S MURDER

Defence Lawyer Plans Appeal Over Judge's 'Error' In Addressing Jury

A drug supplier and money launderer found guilty of first-degree
murder Friday plans to appeal the verdict after his defence lawyer
accused the judge of making an "error" when addressing the jury during
their deliberations.

Fadi Saleh, 32, showed no emotion as the foreperson of the 11-member
jury stood and found him guilty of killing 27-year-old Hussein El-Hajj
Hassan on Aug. 20, 2004.

El-Hajj Hassan's body wasn't found until 10 months later, buried in a
shallow grave off a dead-end road near Panmure Road in June 2005. He
had been shot at least twice, his skull crushed and his right hand
hacked off just above the wrist.

Prosecutors argued Saleh was angry after El-Hajj Hassan tried to buy
drugs directly from Saleh's Toronto supplier. The Crown argued the
move would have cost Saleh $50,000 to $70,000 a month.

They said Saleh, with the help of two other men, lured El-Hajj Hassan
to the spot where he was killed.

Saleh was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25
years.

Following the verdict, Saleh's lawyer, Vince Clifford, said outside
the court that he was "deeply disappointed" with the outcome of the
trial and would commence work on an appeal.

Earlier, Clifford expressed his "grave concerns" to Ontario Superior
Court Justice Colin McKinnon about comments the judge made to the jury
after they asked Wednesday whether they could find Saleh guilty if he
wasn't present at the scene of the crime.

While a person can be found guilty of first-degree murder without
being present at the crime scene, the Crown and defence prepared their
arguments based on the premise that Saleh was present.

Finding that the prejudice to Saleh would be too great if he allowed
the jury to speculate about alternative theories, McKinnon advised
that if they were not satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Saleh
was present, he must be found not guilty.

But he also went on to tell the jury to "carefully consider" the
evidence as to whether Saleh had a motive to commit the crime,
advising them their "common sense" would tell them evidence of a
motive could be "highly relevant" to the question of guilt.

"Ask yourselves who might have had the state of mind to treat his body
in such a violent manner at the scene of the crime. Who would have the
motive, opportunity and state of mind to treat the body in such a
fashion," McKinnon said.

Immediately following the judge's comments, Clifford
objected.

"I have to say this, your honour, I think it's an error," Clifford
told the judge.

Assistant Crown attorneys Dallas Mack and Mark Holmes, who had earlier
argued that the jury should not be misdirected in law, did not comment
on the judge's addendum.

"I knew this would not make either party happy," McKinnon
replied.

Whether Saleh was at the scene of the crime was a central issue in the
trial.

Only one witness, Mark Yegin, directly linked Saleh to the killing.
Yegin, who was acquitted of El-Hajj Hassan's murder, initially told
police that he watched Saleh shoot El-Hajj Hassan twice in the chest
and once in the head with two different guns. However, Yegin later
changed his story to say it was Saleh and another man, Shant Esrabian,
who shot El-Hajj Hassan to death. Esrabian was later convicted of first-degree
murder.

Yegin, whom Clifford described as a "self-confessed liar," refused to
testify during Saleh's trial and was found in contempt of court,
forcing the jury to rely on tapes and transcripts of his evidence
during the preliminary hearing.

Clifford argued that Yegin, who had a history of making deals with the
police when he was in trouble, couldn't be trusted and his evidence
was not supported by either medical or ballistics evidence.

In his initial charge to the jury, McKinnon warned it would be very
dangerous to rely on Yegin's testimony alone in reaching a verdict.

However, the jury also heard testimony from Saleh's Toronto drug
supplier, Rafei Ebrekdjian, that he gave Saleh $170,000 of
approximately $450,000 that El-Hajj Hassan had fronted him for the
purchase of a large amount of cocaine. The drugs were due to be
delivered one day after El-Hajj Hassan was killed.

The jury also heard hours of wiretaps made by police in the months
after the killing that the Crown argued showed Saleh was in control of
the other two men implicated in the killing.

It took the jury four days to find Saleh guilty.

"The jury has found you planned, deliberated upon and participated in
the murder of Hussein El-Hajj Hassan," McKinnon said as he sentenced
Saleh to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.

"Your crime was cold-blooded and gratuitously brutal," he said. "The
facts in the case would suggest you are a dangerous man."

The verdict brought tears to the eyes of El-Hajj Hassan's widow, who
sat, quietly sobbing, in the front row of the courtroom between the
two lead detectives and a victim support worker.

"I'm happy in a way for justice," Soumia Labrouki said outside of
court, describing how she dreamed the night before of her husband
happy and alive. "Fadi can't just kill someone and walk away. He has
to pay the price. We aren't living in a jungle."

She said no matter what her husband did, he never deserved to die.
"You can punish him, take his money away. Don't take his life."

Labrouki, who was eight months pregnant with the couple's third child
when her husband was killed, added that she was happy it was finally
over. "Nobody cared about his family."

Labrouki said her youngest daughter, now five, longs for the father
she never met.

"She cries all night. If I tell her to make a wish, she says, 'I wish
my father was living with us.'"

Saleh, who routinely would look at his brother or other supporters in
the public gallery and wink whenever he was led in and out of the
courtroom during the six-week trial, never looked back before being
led out of the courtroom.

Clifford said Saleh and his defence team, which included co-counsel
Dominic Lamb, "remained strong" and focused on filing Saleh's appeal.