Paul Fontaine, 40, described in court as a full-patch member of the Hells Angels, is accused of being one of two shooters

Paul Fontaine, 40, described in court as a full-patch member of the Hells Angels, is accused of being one of two shooters who took part in the Sept. 8, 1997, attack that killed guard Pierre Rondeau. His partner of three years, Robert Corriveau, was also targeted in the shooting but was not struck.The other shooter was Stéphane (Godasse) Gagné, a Hells Angels underling who later turned informant, prosecutor Randall Richmond told the jury.Richmond said Gagné, who is still behind bars, will testify during the trial and characterized him as the most important witness because he is the only one who can identify Fontaine as the other shooter.With his receding hairline and double chin, and dressed in a checked dress shirt and striped tie, Fontaine looked more like a businessman than a member of an outlaw motorcycle gang as he sat in the prisoner's dock.The seven women and five men of the jury are expected to hear evidence until the end of January. More than 140 witnesses are expected to testify in the first-degree murder trial at the Montreal courthouse.
In his opening remarks, Richmond said Rondeau and Corriveau were targeted simply because they were prison guards."It was a conspiracy to kill guards, any guards - not specifically Mr. Rondeau and Mr. Corriveau," Richmond said.Fontaine was part of the conspiracy along with Gagné and André Tousignant, a Hells Angel who was killed in 1998.All three were operating under the orders of Hells Angels leader Maurice (Mom) Boucher, Richmond said, adding the gang boss planned to also have judges, police officers and prosecutors killed as part of a plan to destabilize the justice system. Boucher figured it would prevent his underlings from becoming informants because the Crown would never want to make a deal with someone who killed a prison guard, Richmond said."But he was wrong."
Fontaine went into hiding after Rondeau was killed, Richmond told the jury, and stayed under the radar until 2004 when he was discovered living under an assumed identity.He recalled how the day he and his partner were attacked seemed like any other until they stopped at an intersection in Rivière des Prairies while on their way to a detention centre to pick up inmates for a routine transport to the Montreal courthouse.Corriveau shot only a few very quick glances in Fontaine's direction while he testified.Corriveau said he saw a man in dark clothing stand in front of the guards' blue modified school bus, his arms resting on the hood. The shooter used both hands to point his gun at them. The next thing he saw, Corriveau said, was Rondeau get shot while he sat in the driver's seat."I saw the impact (of the bullets). He turned toward me as he was struck," said Corriveau, who was sitting in the front passenger seat."I was prepared to die. It makes no sense but I was," Corriveau said, adding that everything happened very quickly.The jury saw a photo that showed several shots were fired into the windshield of the bus and into the door of the bus, near where Corriveau sat, but he was not struck.