Law society rejects lawyer’s bid for appeal of Justin Bourque sentence

HALIFAX — The Law Society of New Brunswick says it will not appoint a lawyer to look into an appeal of the sentence of Justin Bourque after a prominent Quebec lawyer asked it to seek one.

Quebec lawyer Jean-Claude Hebert is critical of how Bourque’s lawyer handled the case and says there are numerous possible grounds for an appeal, including his unprecedented 75-year sentence.

Bourque’s penalty for fatally shooting three Mounties is the harshest Canada has seen since the last state-sanctioned executions in 1962.

Hebert says New Brunswick’s Law Society has a social obligation to help people like Bourque and a lawyer should be appointed to try and convince Bourque to get on board with an appeal.

But law society executive director Marc Richard (REE-shard) says the group does not get involved in individual cases.

Richard says it’s not in the society’s mandate to make judgements on the quality of service that Bourque’s lawyer David Lutz provided.