Rodney Gillis to be retried on obstruction charge in November
Prominent Saint John lawyer Rodney Gillis will be retried in November on an obstruction of justice charge that dates back to 2009.
Gillis, whose 2013 conviction was set aside by the New Brunswick Court of Appeal last fall, will return to Bathurst provincial court on Nov. 16.
Ten days have been set aside.
The case will be heard by Judge Pierre Arseneault.
Peter Craig, of Nova Scotia's special prosecutions office, will serve as the Crown.
Gillis, who made a brief court appearance on Monday with his lawyer, Maria Henheffer, has been ordered to abide by several conditions until his retrial.
He must keep the peace and be of good behaviour, appear in court as ordered, notify the court of any change of address or phone number within 48 hours, and abstain from communicating with Alain Landry.
Gillis stands accused of attempting to stop Landry from testifying against his client, former Liberal MLA Frank Branch, whom he was representing in 2009 in a civil lawsuit against the North Shore Forest Products Marketing Board, and on criminal charges of fraud and extortion.
The trial court heard that during a break in the civil proceedings, Gillis approached Landry, the manager of the marketing board, and offered a deal.
Landry testified Gillis said to him, "They're your witnesses, make sure they don't testify and the Crown won't have a case."
Testifying in his own defence during the trial, Gillis denied ever making that statement to Landry.
But Gillis was found guilty of obstruction of justice on Jan. 31, 2013 and was sentenced to 22 months in jail.
The New Brunswick Court of Appeal then quashed his conviction in a unanimous decision on Sept. 9, 2014.
Although Gillis had requested an acquittal, the Court of Appeal refused, opting instead to merely quash his conviction and order a new trial before another judge, should the Crown decide to retry the case.
The Crown had filed an application for leave to appeal with the Supreme Court on Nov. 10, but Canada's highest court refused to hear the appeal, upholding Gillis's conviction being set aside.
Gillis, who had been suspended by the Law Society of New Brunswick, has since been reinstated with no restrictions.
Obstruction of justice carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
