Crown describes Bain as terrorist while seeking maximum sentence
A document filed in court outlining the arguments the Crown intends to make when the Quebec Court of Appeal will hear arguments on Richard Henry Bain’s sentence refers to the convicted murderer as a terrorist at least a few times.
Bain was convicted of seconddegree murder for having fatally shot stagehand Denis Blanchette, who was working at the Metropolis concert hall on Sept. 4, 2012, while then Parti Québécois leader Pauline Marois was delivering a speech following the PQ’s victory in that day’s election.
The same bullet that killed Blanchette wounded Dave Courage, another stagehand. The rifle Bain was carrying jammed after he fired the single shot.
Bain’s trial, during the summer of 2016, was primarily focused on the shooting. Bain’s political beliefs and motivations were presented to the jury but no terrorism charges were filed against Bain. But the question of whether Bain was acting as a terrorist will apparently be a significant part of the arguments that will be made when the issue of Bain’s sentence is argued before the Quebec Court of Appeal later this year. Bain received an automatic life sentence when he was convicted of seconddegree murder and attempted murder and Superior Court Justice Guy Cournoyer set Bain’s parole eligibility at 20 years.
Last week, defence lawyer Alan Guttman informed the appellate court that he intends to argue 20 years is too high, in part, because Bain was never charged with terrorist-related charges.
This week, prosecutor Dennis Galiatsatos filed a summary of the Crown’s arguments and asserts Bain was a terrorist and reiterates the stance made in 2016 that the killer should have received the maximum — parole eligibility set at 25 years.
“It is indisputable that Richard Bain committed an act of terrorism, by any definition of the term,” Galiatsatos wrote. “In our submission, the lack of (terrorist-related) charges in no way lessens the obviously political nature of his crime. Nor does it prevent the sentencing Court to consider it fully.
“In the respondent’s respectful submission, there can be no room, no tolerance for any form of political violence in Canada. Certainly not such extreme violence.”
Galiatsatos also argues that Cournoyer was “handcuffed by precedent” because there are few, if any, convictions for second-degree murder that compare to what Bain did.
When he was arrested, Bain shouted: “les anglais se réveillent,” signalling that the target of his actions was the separatist party. Weeks after his arrest, a psychiatrist asked Bain a series of questions. He replied in writing and wrote that his plan was to kill “as many separatists as possible.” He also wrote: “I would have continued killing had the gun not jammed.”
“By its very definition, a political rally is an assembly of citizens, gathered to celebrate our democracy. To celebrate our freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. Are those not our most cherished rights as a free society? Are those not the very values that identify us as Canadians, as Quebeckers, as Montrealers,” Galiatsatos asks in his 35-page summary.
“On Sept. 4, 2012, armed with assault rifles, explosives and enough ammunition to equip a small army, Richard Henry Bain tried to bring democracy to its knees. He failed. Like many misguided terrorists before him, he failed. His actions were shameful. His crimes were repugnant.”