Turcotte loses appeal bid to shorten parole eligibility
The Quebec Court of Appeal has rejected an appeal by Guy Turcotte, the former cardiologist who was sentenced to life in prison after he stabbed his two young children to death in 2009.
Turcotte was convicted in 2016 of second-degree murder of both the children. The judge ruled he would be eligible for parole after 17 years.
Turcotte appealed his sentence, arguing that he should become eligible for parole earlier.
He said 17 years was too long because his trial judge had not taken into consideration that he is not a danger to the public. He also said the judge had failed to consider “his mental distress” during the murders, according to Thursday’s judgment.
Turcotte stabbed Olivier, 5, and Anne-Sophie, 3, a combined 46 times in their beds. He had recently moved out of the home he had shared with his wife, Isabelle Gaston, after finding out that she was having an affair with a mutual friend.
In his trial, Turcotte testified that on the night of the murders, he remembered — in what he called “flashes” — drinking windshield wiper fluid after researching ways online to kill himself. Then, Turcotte said, he realized his children would find him dead and decided to kill them to prevent that.
But the Crown brought forth evidence that he drank the windshield wiper fluid after killing the children.
A nurse with whom Turcotte had worked testified during the trial that he had asked her to give Gaston a message.
“‘Tell her I did this to piss her off,’” the nurse testified Turcotte had told her.
She was working in the hospital where Turcotte was brought the day after police discovered him in the house with the murdered children.
During Turcotte’s trial, the court heard other aggravating factors against Turcotte, including the number of times he stabbed the children and that after the murders “he seemed more interested in securing funds to present a defence than the fate he inflicted on his two young children,” Thursday’s judgment read.
The Court of Appeal ruled that the 17-year period of parole ineligibility was appropriate given the gravity of the crime and Turcotte’s complete responsibility for it.