Provisional Suspension Renewed
The Quebec Disciplinary Council granted
the application for renewal of the order for immediate provisional suspension of the respondent’s right to practice the profession and the right to use the title of lawyer, submitted by the applicant under section 122.0.5 of the Professional Code .
Respondent has been charged as an accessory after the fact of a murder
The respondent convinced the Council, both through her testimony and her argument, that there are exceptional circumstances in this case. These include, in particular: the conditions of the release order that prohibit her from practicing her profession under penalty of incarceration; the media coverage of her arrest and the charge against her; her professional and personal situations that are unfavorable to returning to work; the amounts already disbursed in the context of her criminal trial and the original application under section 122.0.1 of the Professional Code , which have significantly reduced her budget; as well as the fact that the Council’s decisions are public, allowing the public to inquire about its status as such, and that the Order’s register clearly indicates that the respondent is provisionally suspended.
The Council also notes that at this stage of the case, the respondent has not been found guilty of a criminal or disciplinary offence.
The Montreal Gazette reported on the charges
A defence lawyer who has worked often at the Montreal courthouse was arrested Thursday and is charged with being an accessory after the fact to a murder carried out in 2019.
Noémi Tellier, 35, of Longueuil was charged at the Joliette courthouse and her case will return to court later this month. The charge carries a maximum life sentence. According to the arrest warrant issued in the case, Tellier, a lawyer since 2012, is alleged to have been an accessory to the homicide from the day before it was carried out on May 8, 2019 to Nov. 10, 2023.
The victim of the homicide was Francis Turgeon, 33, a man described as a prolific methamphetamine dealer in a court decision delivered in 2020 in an unrelated case. He was killed at his home in Repentigny.
Two men — Kevin St-Pierre, 34, and James Patrice Mardy, 33 — were arrested in November and are charged with first-degree murder. Their case returns to court on the same day as Tellier’s on May 29.
Another man named Wesley McKenzie was arrested days after Turgeon was killed, but the murder and conspiracy charges filed against him were later dropped.
According to La Presse, St-Pierre is Tellier’s former partner and they had a child together. In 2022, the pair were involved in a civil court case together in Joliette that challenged how some items were seized when a search warrant was carried out in the Sûreté du Québec’s investigation of the homicide.
On April 24, Tellier pleaded guilty at the Longueuil courthouse to impaired driving. She entered the plea on the same day she made her first court appearance on the charge and received a $2,000 fine.
Le Journale de Montreal also had details
She faces a charge of accessory after the fact, because she allegedly helped Kevin St-Pierre, the father of her child and close to the Hells Angels, to cover up the murder of drug trafficker Francis Turgeon in Repentigny, Lanaudière, in May 2019.
Kevin St-Pierre and James Patrice Mardy are accused of killing the independent trafficker who allegedly incurred a debt of $80,000 to the Hells Angels because he refused to pay his sales “tax” on the territory.
After the crime, the accused allegedly carried out counter-surveillance maneuvers and attempted to make people forget about an SUV that had been used by the co-accused to carry out reconnaissance near the victim’s home.
(Mike Frisch)