The judge at Carl Girouard’s trial delivered his first instructions to the 11 jurors on Thursday, who are expected to begin their deliberations early next week.
After hearing various witnesses and experts for about a month, the jury will soon have to decide whether the author of the saber attacks in Old Quebec on Halloween night 2020 is criminally responsible or not for his actions for cause. of mental disorders.
The 26-year-old accused faces two counts of first degree murder and five counts of attempted murder. The man admitted to the attacks, but maintains that he suffered from a mental disorder at the time of the events.
The day after the lawyers’ pleadings, Judge Richard Grenier recalled certain general principles in criminal law. He also listed the various criteria on which the members of the jury will have to base themselves to evaluate the credibility and the value of the witnesses.
The defense notably presented during the trial the analysis of the psychiatrist Dr. Gilles Chamberland. He concluded that Girouard suffered from schizophrenia and psychotic delirium on the night of the murders.
For its part, the Crown called the neuropsychologist William Pothier and the psychiatrist Dr Sylvain Faucher. The latter established that the defendant had a personality disorder and was on a “narcissistic quest” to express his resentment towards society.
The prosecution’s theory is that Girouard knew right from wrong and planned the attacks. That of the defense is that the passage to the act of the accused results from a serious mental illness depriving him of being able to judge the nature and the quality of his gestures, summed up Judge Grenier.
He will give the rest of his remarks next Monday, which should include indications of possible verdicts.
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This article was produced with the financial support of the Meta Fellowships and The Canadian Press for News.
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