Accused mail bomber facing new charges being ‘set up to take the fall:’ lawyer

WINNIPEG – The lawyer for a man accused of targeting his former wife and two lawyers with potentially lethal mail bombs says his client is innocent and being “set up to take the fall.”

Manitoba RCMP said on Friday they had laid more attempted murder charges against Guido Amsel for allegedly setting off an explosion at his ex-wife’s home about 18 months before the letter bombs.

Amsel was already in custody on charges of attempted murder in relation to the explosive letters sent last July.

Two of the letters were safely detonated, but one exploded and severely injured lawyer Maria Mitousis, who had represented Amsel’s former wife in the couple’s divorce.

Amsel’s lawyer, Martin Glazer, said police investigated his client in 2013 and cleared him as a suspect.

“We’re concerned that they’re trying to build a case by charging him with something that happened almost three years ago, for which he was investigated at the time and no charges were laid,” Glazer said Friday.

“I predict the case will sink in the quicksand because the foundation that they’re building the case on is shaky.”

Winnipeg police arrested Amsel prematurely last July based on the concerns of his former wife, Glazer said.

“All of this stems from his ex-wife,” he said. “We believe our client has been set up to take the fall for someone else. We believe whoever did this is out there. Whoever did it, got away with it.”

RCMP said they were called to a home just north of Winnipeg in December 2013 after “an explosive device was detonated” outside.

Staff Sgt. Jared Hall said the explosion damaged the home and a vehicle, but did not wake up Amsel’s ex-wife and another unidentified adult. No one noticed the damage until later that morning.

“All available efforts were made in an attempt to identify a suspect and determine who the intended target was,” Hall said at a news conference. “All possible motives were identified and investigated, including the potential for Guido Amsel’s involvement.”

Hall said Amsel was not a suspect at the time and officers found no evidence to suggest he might have been involved. That changed after last summer’s attempted letter bombings, he said.

The RCMP teamed with Winnipeg police and identified evidence, which led to the additional charges, Hall said. He wouldn’t go into detail about the evidence.

There was nothing police could have done in 2013 to prevent the attempted letter bombings two years later, Hall said.

“We pursued every avenue, every motive, every possibility to find out who — and it could have been anybody — was responsible for that back in 2013,” Hall said. “The evidence and information just wasn’t there at that time.”

But the evidence that was collected in 2013 had “obvious significance” after last summer, he said.

“The proper collection of evidence at the scene in 2013 and the safeguarding of exhibits throughout these past 2 1/2 years was critical to this investigation,” RCMP Chief Supt. Scott Kolody added.

Amsel has been in jail since July. He was denied bail and has requested a review of that decision. Glazer argued the bail review should be heard by an out-of-province judge but that request was denied.

Glazer questioned the timing of the latest charges, given Amsel’s bail review is scheduled for April 20.

“We have a different theory as to who is involved and we hope to be able to present that in court,” he said.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier version included incorrect information provided by RCMP about the date of the 2013 explosion.