MONTREAL - The lawyer for a man convicted of shooting and killing a policeman apologized on Monday for singing the Bob Marley hit "I Shot The Sheriff" as he was leaving the courtroom.
Despite the apology, the Quebec Law Society has opened an disciplinary investigation against defense lawyer Christian Gauthier, while the Montreal police union is planning to make a formal complaint.
"I'm sincerely sorry to know today that family members (of the victim) and policemen heard me," Gauthier told Radio-Canada television.
"If I hurt them, if I added to their plight, I'm sincerely sorry. I didn't think about it, and if I had, I wouldn't have sang," he said.
Gauthier was leaving the courthouse during a break in the murder trial of his client, Stephane Boucher, last week when his rendition of "I Shot The Sheriff," a cut on Marley's 1973 album "Burnin,'" was heard by reporters and police.
"I shot the sheriff, but I swear it was in self-defense," the lawyer sang while pacing a corridor.
"It's the story of my client," he replied when a journalist warned him that his performance had been caught on tape.
His client was later sentenced to 25 years in jail for shooting and killing policeman Benoit L'Ecuyer on a busy Montreal highway in February last year. Boucher said he killed the officer in defense after being shot at while trying to escape.
Disciplinary action against the lawyer could range from a fine to disbarment.
'Nuther POS lawyer.
Despite the apology, the Quebec Law Society has opened an disciplinary investigation against defense lawyer Christian Gauthier, while the Montreal police union is planning to make a formal complaint.
"I'm sincerely sorry to know today that family members (of the victim) and policemen heard me," Gauthier told Radio-Canada television.
"If I hurt them, if I added to their plight, I'm sincerely sorry. I didn't think about it, and if I had, I wouldn't have sang," he said.
Gauthier was leaving the courthouse during a break in the murder trial of his client, Stephane Boucher, last week when his rendition of "I Shot The Sheriff," a cut on Marley's 1973 album "Burnin,'" was heard by reporters and police.
"I shot the sheriff, but I swear it was in self-defense," the lawyer sang while pacing a corridor.
"It's the story of my client," he replied when a journalist warned him that his performance had been caught on tape.
His client was later sentenced to 25 years in jail for shooting and killing policeman Benoit L'Ecuyer on a busy Montreal highway in February last year. Boucher said he killed the officer in defense after being shot at while trying to escape.
Disciplinary action against the lawyer could range from a fine to disbarment.
'Nuther POS lawyer.
but anyone hear about the lawyer that got shot by the man b/c he didn't get as much as his sister after their father died, and it was all caught on film.