Sentenced in February to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 12 years, Marie-Josée Viau failed in her attempt to obtain a stoppage of the judicial process and to be released from the charges against her.
Posted at 8:00 a.m.
After a jury trial that lasted several months, Marie-Josée Viau was found guilty of conspiracy and the second degree murders of brothers Giuseppe and Vincenzo Falduto, murdered by a Mafia hitman in the garage of the 47-year-old woman and her spouse, Guy Dion, in Saint-Jude, near Saint-Hyacinthe, in June 2016.
SCREEN CAPTURE FROM VIDEO FILED IN COURT
Marie-Josée Viau in the interrogation room shortly after her arrest by Sûreté du Québec investigators, October 16, 2019
But before being found guilty, she had presented a “motion for a stay of proceedings” which Judge Eric Downs, of the Superior Court, decided to hear after the trial.
Viau and Dion were arrested in 2019 following a major investigation by the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) called Préméditer, during which the hitman, who became a civil undercover agent (ACI) for the police, recorded the couple without his knowledge.
But ACI, who suffers from mental health issues, has not been easy for SQ investigators to get a grip on. His lengthy testimony during the trial was also punctuated by memorable mood swings.
No serious breach
In his imposing motion, Marie-Josée Viau’s lawyer, Ms.and Mylène Lareau, affirmed that the collaboration between the State and the ACI had been marked by numerous abuses of procedure. She requested the exclusion of all evidence from ACI’s participation in the investigation, including the tapes, and her testimony at trial.
The criminal lawyer argued in particular that the investigators had not sufficiently corroborated the statements of the ACI, that the confession of his crimes to the police (“declaration of life”) was incomplete, that the former hitman should have been considered as an informer rather than an ACI, that permits should never have been granted, that the police had allowed him to commit offenses during the investigation and that contracting such an individual, with mental health problems, “was abusive”.
“Despite its difficult and volatile personality, the ACI represented the key to Italian organized crime to help solve six murders”, writes Judge Downs in his fleshed-out 112-page judgment.
At the risk of resorting to an outdated formula, one cannot infiltrate traditional Italian organized crime with an altar boy, any more than organized crime contracts with an altar boy to commit murders.
Justice Éric Downs, of the Superior Court, in his judgment
“The evidence in this case, both in terms of the role of the Sûreté du Québec and the role of the DPCP [Directeur des poursuites criminelles et pénales], does not reveal any breach or action of such gravity that it undermines the fairness of the accused’s trial or that would be likely to shock the community by undermining the integrity of the judicial system. »
“The Court considers that the collaboration of the ACI, although imperfect, has served and serves the interests of society”, concludes the judge, according to whom it is “however desirable that the State keep an eye open on the actions of the AIT and maintains a safety net for its own protection and that of the public”.
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