Quebec court acquits man in Hells Angels slaying after key witness admits lying

Members of the Hells Angels ride outside the Hells Angels Nomads compound during the group's Canada Run event in Carlsbad Springs, Ont., near Ottawa, on Saturday, July 23, 2016. (THE CANADIAN PRESS / Justin Tang)

MONTREAL -- The Quebec Court of Appeal has acquitted a man in the April 2000 slaying of a high-ranking Hells Angels member because a key prosecution witness admitted to lying on the stand.

The court acquitted Tony Duguay today in the death of Normand (Biff) Hamel, a member of the gang's former Nomads chapter.

Three appeals court justices reached the decision after a Crown witness -- an informant named Sylvain Beaudry -- admitted to lying in court about details of a confession he gleaned from Duguay.

Beaudry acknowledged elements of his testimony came from evidence supplied to him by his police handlers.

Hamel was chased around a parking lot at a pediatrician's clinic north of Montreal before being shot several times as he sought refuge between two cars.

A jury convicted Duguay of first-degree murder in December 2006 and he was sentenced to life in prison.

The Crown and the defence concluded in a letter sent to the court a few days ago it would be unlikely the alleged crime could be proven beyond a reasonable doubt at a new trial and that Beaudry wouldn't be called again.

"The prosecution therefore declares its intention not to hold any new trial in this matter," the letter read. "We therefore jointly agree to recommend that the court acquit the appellant of the alleged offence."

The slaying took place during the height of Quebec's infamous biker war -- a turf war over drug territory that claimed more than 150 lives between 1994 and 2002.