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This article was published 16/7/2015 (1894 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The hunt to find a lawyer for Guido Amsel continued outside the province Thursday after a second court appearance for the man accused of sending a letter bomb to his former wife and her lawyer.

Amsel, 49, still has no lawyer and has yet to enter a plea on bombing-related charges that come back to court July 31. He is accused of several crimes, including attempted murder and aggravated assault.

CP Guido Amsel, 49, is charged with sending explosive devices through the mail, severely injuring one woman. (Winnipeg Police Service handout)

Sources have told the Free Press there are some local lawyers willing and ready to take him on as a client.

However, many say Amsel would do better canvassing firms outside Manitoba.

"And it may have been his decision it would be better to get someone from outside. Obviously if someone’s willing, it may not be enough to come forward. He has to want you, too," said criminal lawyer Jeff Gindin, who Amsel approached for help.

"I did get the call early on, the day he was arrested in fact," Gindin said by phone Thursday.

"And we were kind of involved for awhile until I determined there was a conflict and we couldn’t act for him," Gindin said. He is a founding partner of the Winnipeg law firm Gindin Wolson Simmonds Roitenberg.

An articling student from Gindin’s firm appeared on Amsel’s behalf during the first court appearance on July 9. On Thursday, Amsel was represented by someone else who was referred in court as a "friend on record." That’s an euphemism for a lawyer who isn’t the accused’s counsel.

The representative appealed to the court for a publication ban to protect Amsel’s rights to a fair trial, which the court rejected.

Amsel listened via video link from the Winnipeg Remand Centre, his head bowed, his eyes averted from the camera during the brief appearance Thursday.

Outside the court room, Amsel’s representative refused to identify himself to media.

"There are so many reasons you can have a conflict in a case involving a number of lawyers and law firms," Gindin said.

"That’s one of the problems he’s having," he said of Amsel.

"For instance, if I have an assault case and I don’t know the victim, it’s easy to act but here it’s complicated by the number of law firms and lawyers involved. That’s why most people are thinking he ought to get a lawyer from another province so no conflict can ever erupt," Gindin said.

Amsel’s case is allegedly tied to a messy divorce that involved a number of lawyers over a number of years. Then there is a problem posed by lawyers who donated to a crowdsourcing fund for lawyer Maria Mitousis, who lost a hand after opening a letter bomb at her River Avenue law firm on July 3.

Anyone who donated to the fund that’s now over $80,000 would be in a conflict, too.

Police have confirmed the lawyer lost her right hand, and her left was severely injured. She suffered "countless" injuries to her face, chest and thighs, said Const. Jason Michalyshen of the Winnipeg Police Service.

In a statement, Mitousis said she remembers the explosion that almost killed her as she worked in her small family law practice.

"I’m going to get past this. I live in the moment," she recalled thinking, as emergency responders rushed her to hospital where she would undergo 10 hours of surgery.

Amsel is accused of putting an explosive compound inside digital voice recorders and mailing them to locations connected to two legal battles — his divorce and a lawsuit with his ex-wife over an autobody shop they used to jointly run.

Police say a second package was found at Amsel’s ex-wife’s workplace and safely detonated by the bomb squad. A third explosive device was found and detonated safely at a law office that represented Guido Amsel in the lawsuit until last fall, when the lawyer withdrew from the case, citing "a breakdown of the relationship" with Amsel in a court affidavit.

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca