Hells Angel Paul (Fon Fon) Fontaine has been found guilty of first degree murder, in the killing of prison guard Pierre Rondeau more than 11 years ago.
He was also found guilty of the attempted murder of another prison guard, Robert Corriveau.
After the five-man, seven-woman jury deliberated for six days, the verdict was delivered early Sunday afternoon.
Rondeau was shot to death on Sept. 8, 1997. He was driving an armoured bus to the Rivi�re-des-Prairies detention centre, when he and Corriveau were ambushed by two gunmen.
"We're very happy that justice has finally been served," said Stephane Lemaire, president of the Quebec Prison Guards Union.
Lemaire said the murder trial brought back painful memories of a time of widespread paranoia amongst prison guards, but he added that the killings led to security improvements within the system. Prison guards are now allowed to carry arms to protect themselves, and are outfitted with bulletproof vests.
Hells Angels saga
Rondeau's murder is one of two that led to the conviction of Hells Angels leader Maurice (Mom) Boucher. Boucher, who has been serving a life sentence since 2002, ordered the killings of Rondeau, and another prison guard, Diane Lavigne.
Court testimony revealed that Boucher picked the victims at random, in an attempt to destabilize the justice system, test the loyalty of his fellow bikers, and intimidate informants.
Fontaine's initial disappearance
Fontaine went into hiding after the shootings of Rondeau and Lavigne. Investigators discovered him living in Quebec City under an alias -- Jean Boyer -- in 2004.
Months of testimony
Fontaine's murder trial began in October, and was disrupted by the defence's repeated attempts to stop the proceedings. Most recently, on Friday, defence lawyer Carole Beaucage filed a written motion for a mistrial, while the jury deliberated the fate of her client.
Earlier on in the trial, the jury had asked the judge for permission to see the bullet-riddled bus in which Fontaine was killed, but Superior Court Justice Marc David refused because the bus was not entered as evidence. The jury was told to base their deliberations on photos of the bus presented in court.
But during their commute to the Montreal courthouse, the jurors regularly passed by the same kind of bus used to transport prisoners to and from court.
Beaucage pointed to the fact that two jurors admittedly carried out experiments of their own to see how easily a person could mount the hood of an armoured bus and fire shots through the windshield.
The judge could have dismissed the jury on the grounds that it had been unduly influenced by outside evidence, but he ultimately rejected Beaucage's call for a mistrial.
Key witness
The prinicipal witness in the case was Stephane (Godasse) Gagn�, a biker-turned-police-informant who was with Fontaine when the crime was committed.
Gagn� pleaded guilty to murder charges stemming from the deaths of Diane Lavigne and Hells Angels biker gang member Andre (Toots) Tousignant, but did not have to face murder charges related to Rondeau's death because he agreed to testify against Fontaine.
"He held his ground throughout," said Crown prosecutor Randall Richmond. "We had 84 other witnesses that came and confirmed his testimony on various points."
Sentencing
Fontaine, 41, faces an automatic minimum sentence of 25 years in jail, without parole.
