Lawyer James Bowie testifies in his own defence after Crown drops extortion charge

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Suspended Ottawa lawyer James Bowie denied all criminal allegations and suggested others were “orchestrating” a plot against him as he took the stand in his own defence Tuesday.

On Monday, the Crown withdrew a criminal charge of extortion following three days of testimony from Leanne Aubin, who told the court that Bowie “propositioned” her in an alleged exchange of legal services for oral sex. The Crown is no longer pursuing that charge.

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Bowie has pleaded not guilty to the remaining charges of harassment and uttering threats.

Crown attorney Kerry Watson produced 15 pages of screenshots of a Snapchat conversation between Aubin and Bowie during August and September 2022, when, Aubin testified, Bowie mentioned “the deal” multiple times.

Bowie’s defence lawyer, Eric Granger, said “there is nothing in the Snapchat (transcript) that lays out that deal.”

Bowie’s defence team also produced pages of Facebook messages between Aubin and Bowie and said there was, likewise, no mention of a sex-for-services deal in those exchanges.

After the extortion charge was dropped this week, Bowie’s testimony on Tuesday morning focused on allegations made by a former friend who testified as the Crown’s first witness on Jan. 28.

The woman’s identity is shielded by a publication ban imposed by Ontario Court Justice Paul Cooper. A publication ban on Aubin’s identity was lifted at her request earlier in the legal proceedings.

Bowie denied allegations of harassment and uttering threats and also denied that he asked the other woman about acquiring a gun “to take care of” a former client.

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“I never said anything by inference, by suggestion or by plain words to make any threat to any person at any time,” Bowie testified Tuesday.

Bowie said he was severely depressed and suicidal after news broke in the media in the fall of 2022 about allegations of professional misconduct and an investigation by the Law Society of Ontario.

“We were talking about my woes. I had been disgraced in the media. I said I’d rather just blow my brains out.”

The woman was “full of empathy” for Bowie, he testified.

She said she had two guns, Bowie said, but declined to show them or give them to him.

“I won’t give them to you because I want you to live,” the woman told Bowie, according to his testimony.

Bowie testified he “never” had any further discussion about firearms with her and never talked about firearms in any relation to Aubin. He specifically denied saying, “I need her gone,” as the witness had testified earlier at his trial.

He also denied allegations he had asked the woman for an “unregistered” gun.

Bowie said his friendship with the woman “declined” in early 2023 and had become “acrimonious.”

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When he was unable to contact her for a period of time, Bowie said he placed a GPS tracking device on her car and followed her to a supermarket parking lot.

“I was desperate to meet with her,” Bowie said under questioning from Granger. “She said she was interested in helping me.”

Bowie said the woman had promised him information that would help clear his name.

He believed Aubin had been working with others who had “hostile, dishonest intentions” and who were “orchestrating” a smear campaign against him, he testified.

The witness told Bowie in April 2023 that she “wanted to participate in the efforts to exonerate me,” Bowie said Tuesday.

Bowie said that he left the parking lot after that conversation and denied that the woman told him to leave her alone.

He said the two sat in the car together and smoked cigarettes and talked for about 10 minutes. She texted him later to ask how Bowie had found her and he admitted to her that he had tracked her with a GPS device.

“Fair enough,” the woman replied, according to Bowie’s testimony.

“I told her, ‘If you want to call it quits, just let me know.’”

ahelmer@postmedia.com

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