James Bowie — the suspended Ottawa criminal defence lawyer convicted of death threats, criminal harassment and extortion involving an ex-client and a former close friend — was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment Tuesday morning for his crimes.
Bowie was also ordered to submit his DNA for a national databank, and is barred from possessing weapons for 10 years after his release.
His offences were part of a “desperate” and “unhinged” plot to clear his name, court heard during his trial. They happened after the ex-client, Leanne Aubin, went public in late 2022 with the allegation that Bowie tried to extort her for sex in exchange for his legal services.
(That specific allegation was not proven in court, and the charge was dropped as the trial was ongoing.)
He was found to have uttered death threats against Aubin to the former close friend, who can’t be identified due to a publication ban. He tried to get the friend to obtain a gun for him “to end” Aubin, and he tracked her car with GPS-monitoring devices to find her whereabouts, confront and scare her.
“He attempted to squeeze tighter the hold that he had, or that he believed he had, on her,” Ontario Court Justice Paul Cooper said Tuesday as he read his decision.
Results could have been fatal, judge says
Cooper also suggested the outcome of Bowie’s plot could have been worse — even fatal.
“But for the courage of [his former friend], the courts may have been adjudicating a culpable homicide,” he said.
“But for the courage of two strong women with integrity, these matters never would have made it before the court to properly be adjudicated.”
Sitting in the prisoner’s box — donning the casual clothes he wore to a hearing in July where his bail was revoked, a change from the suit he wore to trial every day — Bowie spent most of the proceeding looking up at the ceiling and showed no emotion.
Bowie attends his sentencing hearing on July 28. (Joseph Tunney/CBC)’The antithesis of integrity’
After lawyers on both sides tried to find similar cases and didn’t come up with much, Cooper said he assessed the appropriate sentencing range to be anywhere from two to five or seven years.
At July’s sentencing hearing, the Crown had asked for four years while the defence argued for a conditional sentence to be served in the community.
Cooper settled on four. Addressing Bowie directly, he said Bowie thought he was above the law and that he’d weaponized his legal knowledge to abuse vulnerable people.
In so doing, Cooper said, Bowie cast a long shadow on the reputation of a profession that members of the public are supposed to be able to trust.
The judge also laid out the mitigating factors: Bowie’s high education, his family, the work he did pro bono and on boards, and the drug habit he’s kicked. He also noted the service Bowie provided on social media, explaining the judicial system during the COVID-19 pandemic as people involved with the 2022 convoy protests were being arrested.
“Sadly … those actions which later followed his promotion of this institution [are] the antithesis of integrity,” Cooper said.
“Goodbye, Mr. Bowie,” Cooper said at the end of the hearing, without turning his head to look at Bowie as he was escorted out of the room.
Ottawa police issued a news release on April 24, 2023, and attached this photo of lawyer James Bowie after he was charged. Police said there could be other victims, and that Bowie could have used aliases. (Ottawa Police Service)’Can finally rest easy at night’
Michael Spratt, the criminal defence lawyer Aubin approached for help after she dropped Bowie as her lawyer, praised Cooper’s decision outside court Tuesday.
Spratt’s name had been dragged through the mud during Bowie’s trial, when Bowie took the stand in his own defence and accused Spratt of conspiring with Aubin to take him down. (Assistant Crown attorney Kerry Watson likened the conspiracy allegations to a plot out of a fictional legal thriller in her closing arguments.)
“The breach of trust on this level is quite frankly staggering, and I’m glad that Leanne and the other complainant can finally rest easy at night knowing that they won’t be seeing him for a long time,” Spratt said.
“The only way that I was involved in this case is that Leanne reached out for help,” he added. “The fact that Mr. Bowie is fixated on conspiracy theories just shows how broken his mind is and how twisted his worldview is. And he’ll have four years now to think about the damage that he’s caused in the community and to our client specifically.”
In these messages photographed by Leanne Aubin of her Snapchat correspondence with Bowie, he writes: “If a thousand dollars would change your life, that’s something we can do,” and later, “You’re crushed for money.” (Ontario Court of Justice)Lawsuit damages remain outstanding
With Bowie headed to prison, it won’t be possible for Aubin to seek any of the $235,000 he was ordered to pay her in her successful civil lawsuit for the time being, according to lawyer Christine Johnson, who represented her.
“It’s, if anything, a moral victory, I think. And I think that our client knew that going in and it was important for her to do what she did in standing up for other people,” Johnson said.
On Monday, Spratt launched a GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign for Aubin, with a $12,000 goal. As of Tuesday evening, about $1,800 had been raised.
Bowie has 30 days to decide whether to mount an appeal of his conviction, his sentence, or both. Outside court Tuesday, Bowie’s defence lawyer Eric Granger said the judge’s decision will be reviewed.
“I don’t think it takes much imagination to appreciate that somebody from Mr. Bowie’s background, having been a lawyer or having advocated for people in this situation, that it’s difficult [for him],” Granger said.
Meanwhile, the Law Society of Ontario is continuing to investigate Bowie for alleged sexual misconduct involving two former clients and two members of the public, among other allegations.
Bowie remains suspended from practicing law.