Twenty days after Frédérick Silva announced he had unsuccessfully contacted nearly 200 lawyers to represent him, two criminal lawyers came forward to defend the former organized crime hitman-turned-police collaborator.
Posted at 3:39pm
One of those lawyers came forward following the publication of an article in La Presse published on October 28, while the other is a legal aid worker in Quebec City who was approached by the person in charge of the Commission des Services Juridiques du Québec.
The first was in contact with Frédérick Silva and gave himself a month to make a decision, while the second was able to take up the case, but not before the end of January, which is a bit far-fetched for High Court Justice Marc David’s tastes.
“I insist that there is at least preliminary communication between Mr Silva and this lawyer before January. It is in everyone’s interest that the file moves forward and that we are at a very advanced stage. This is at least the first time we’ve been specific and that names have been mentioned,” Judge David said.
The latter also rejected the names of four experienced lawyers in court on Friday afternoon, for whom he has great respect. However, one of them has already been approached by Frédérick Silva, to no avail.
The case has been postponed to December 7th and it may be on that date that we will formulate the name of a lawyer who has agreed to take over the former killer’s case.
Shock waves in the criminal world
Silva, 42, was sentenced to life in prison without the right to parole to 25 years for the murders of three men in the fall of 2018 and an attempted murder of mafia clan leader Salvatore Scoppa in February 2017.
He was also convicted of the second-degree murder of a downtown Montreal bar patron in May 2017, but the verdict has not yet been reached.
However, at the end of June, Frédérick Silva began to cooperate with the police.
He is currently the focus of a major investigation being led by investigators from the Serious Crimes and Organized Crime Division of the Montreal Police Service and the Crimes Against Individuals of the Sûreté du Québec.
However, he still needs a lawyer to discuss the length of the suspended sentence in the case of Scopa’s attempted murder.
In addition, when his previous attorneys no longer represented him, a motion for disclosure of evidence was active and a motion for abuse of procedure could still be reopened.
At the same time, Silva also initiated proceedings in the Court of Appeal in relation to the convictions against him for his three murders committed in 2018 and the attempted murder of Scoppa.
In addition, one of the prosecutors who has been involved in the case since its inception, Me Antoine Piché, was appointed a judge at the Quebec Court on Thursday, and it is his former partner, Me Nathalie Kléber, of the Bureau of Serious Crime and Justice Special cases for the continued existence of things that holds the fort.
To reach Daniel Renaud, dial 514.285-7000, extension 4918, write to [email protected] or write to the La Presse mailing address.