Former judge Jacques Delisle was found guilty Thursday at the Quebec courthouse of a charge of manslaughter following the death of his wife in 2009.
Mr. Delisle, aged 88, had entered a guilty plea a few minutes earlier, standing in the dock. He said he was under no pressure to plead guilty.
With a shaky step and after having clearly demonstrated his hearing difficulties, Mr. Delisle then headed to the detention areas of the courthouse, for a period of several hours.
“Oh no,” he exclaimed when the special constables held out the handcuffs towards him.
An agent then explained to him that he had to agree to be handcuffed. “You’re found guilty, you’re incarcerated, that’s the procedure,” she said.
After complying, he disappeared through a door at the back of the courtroom.
Moments earlier, Judge Étienne Parent, who pronounced him guilty, accepted a joint suggestion from the parties and sentenced him to one day in detention.
The magistrate thus took into consideration the period of incarceration of almost nine years to which Jacques Delisle had been sentenced for the premeditated murder of his wife Nicole Rainville at the end of a first trial in 2012.
This outcome, Thursday, occurred following an agreement between Mr. Delisle and the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions.
Mr. Delisle’s lawyer, Jacques Larochelle, said his client agreed to plead guilty to the charge of manslaughter. To journalists afterwards, the lawyer nevertheless maintained that the facts corresponded, in his opinion, to assistance in suicide.
This version is rejected by Crown prosecutor François Godin, for whom Mr. Delisle played a more important role than simple manslaughter.
Given Mr. Delisle’s age and the delays of a second trial, the holding of which was still uncertain, the Crown agreed to come to an agreement with the defense on this guilty plea.
More details will follow.