Hospital visit delays lawyer’s trial for obstructing justice
He’s accused of arranging for informant’s video statement to be put on YouTube
A Montreal lawyer left the Gouin courthouse and headed for the emergency room of a hospital when he fell ill just as his trial on allegations of obstructing justice in a murder case was set to begin.
Dimitrios Strapatsas, 43, is charged with obstructing justice, along with convicted killer John Boulachanis, 43, in a strange case in which they are alleged to have made arrangements to have an informant’s videotaped statement to police available on YouTube for anyone to see.
Boulachanis was ultimately found guilty of the murder. On Dec. 17, a jury at the same Gouin courthouse found him guilty of the first-degree murder of Robert Tanguay, 32, who was killed in Rigaud in August 1997. Hints of what Boulachanis and Strapatsas are alleged to have done emerged during the murder trial.
On Monday, Quebec Court Judge Marc-André Dagenais was informed by Strapatsas’s defence lawyer, Fabio Dell’Aquila, that Strapatsas made it to the courthouse before 9:30 a.m. but did not feel well when he pulled into the parking lot. Dell’Aquila read a text message that Strapatsas sent him stating that he was concerned he was suffering a stroke and went to a Montreal hospital for help.
Prosecutor Jennifer Morin told Dagenais the trial cannot proceed without Strapatsas being present. Two hours later, just before noon on Monday, Dagenais was informed that Strapatsas had undergone a test that indicated he is okay, but that he was still waiting to see a doctor.
“Knowing how our medical system works, let’s carry this over to tomorrow,” the judge said while expressing hope the trial will be able to resume Tuesday morning.
The trial is scheduled to last three days and is being held at the Gouin courthouse for security reasons. Boulachanis has made at least two very serious attempts to escape since 2013.
While detained in his murder case in 2014 at the Rivière des Prairies Detention Centre, Boulachanis confided in another detainee about the homicide. During the murder trial, the other detainee said Boulachanis never admitted to him outright that he killed Tanguay but made a series of self-incriminating statements. The man, who has since pleaded guilty to armed robbery, gave a statement to police that was recorded on video.
Strapatsas is alleged to have helped arrange to have a recording of the statement posted on YouTube. During arguments made outside the jury’s presence last year, the Crown theorized that Boulachanis wanted the video posted to let other inmates and detainees know that the robber was an informant.
The theory was part of the reason the Crown succeeded in a request to have a publication ban placed on the man’s identity during the murder trial. Prosecutors depicted Boulachanis as a man who would stop at nothing to avoid being tried for murder.
On Monday, Dagenais was presented with a series of admissions pertaining to the robbery. Boulachanis’s lawyer, Marc Labelle, said the admissions will save time because, with them, the robber’s testimony won’t be necessary for the trial.
Boulachanis still faces charges related to his November 2013 escape from a bus that was transferring detainees from a detention centre in Montreal to the Valleyfield courthouse. During the murder trial, the jury heard testimony about how Boulachanis managed to smuggle a small metal saw onto bus and cut through restraints. He bolted from the bus but was arrested seconds later.
During the murder trial, the presiding judge was informed that Boulachanis and Strapatsas are cousins.
In March, Boulachanis pleaded guilty to two other counts of obstructing justice in other cases brought against him. He was sentenced to serve seven years concurrent to the life sentence he is serving for Tanguay’s murder.