Bowie sentenced four years for extortion, threat to kill former client

Justice Paul Cooper suggested the criminal activity Bowie was found guilty of could have escalated even further.

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Disgraced former lawyer James Bowie sat expressionless in the prisoner’s box Tuesday as a judge imposed a four-year penitentiary sentence for extortion, criminal harassment and uttering threats related to a former client. Article content

Bowie, 43, was found guilty in March of criminal harassment and extorting a friend by pressuring her to obtain a gun to “take care” of his former client, Leanne Aubin. Article content Article content

Ontario Court Justice Paul Cooper found Bowie not guilty of one additional count of extortion related to Aubin, but found him guilty of uttering threats to kill her.

Cooper characterized Bowie as a once-prominent Ottawa