Lawyers again arguing over Bain’s sentence
Shooting at PQ victory rally in 2012 left one person dead, injured another
A jury’s decision to convict Richard Henry Bain of second-degree murder in a shooting that was obviously planned still leaves legal minds perplexed two years after he was found guilty of killing a stagehand while on his way to kill people at a Parti Québécois victory rally.
On Sept. 4, 2012, Bain, who is now 68, loaded his van with several firearms and materials to set a fire and showed up at the Metropolis club where the newly elected premier Pauline Marois was about to deliver a speech celebrating her party ’s victory in that night’s election. He showed up prepared to kill someone but only managed to fire one shot, which killed stagehand Denis Blanchette and seriously wounded Dave Courage, a technician who was also working that night. The rifle Bain was carrying jammed before he could do more harm, but he later told a psychiatrist his goal had been to kill as many people at the PQ gathering as possible.
Bain’s defence was that he was suffering from a mental illness that night and during his trial, held during the summer of 2016, it appeared the jury only had two options to consider: that Bain carried out a planned and premeditated murder that merits a first-degree murder conviction or that he was not criminally responsible for his actions.
The fact that the jury opted instead to convict Bain of seconddegree murder left much open for interpretation because it suggests that while the jury believed Bain intended to kill someone that night, his actions weren’t planned and deliberate. The jury’s reasoning was still being debated two years later, on Tuesday, as both the Crown and Bain’s defence lawyer, Alan Guttman, argued before the Quebec Court of Appeal that Bain did not receive an appropriate sentence for his crimes (he was also convicted of three counts of attempted murder).
Bain automatically received a life sentence when he was convicted but, by choosing second-degree murder, the jury left Superior Court Justice Guy Cournoyer with the always difficult task of deciding how long he should spend behind bars before he is eligible for full parole.
“No court of law can condone the use of violence, especially with firearms to suppress the freedom of speech and expression of anyone, no matter what political party or opinion is involved,” Cournoyer wrote in his decision to set Bain’s parole eligibility at 20 years. The Crown had argued that Bain serve the maximum of 25 years while Guttman argued for the minimum of 10.
Members of a jury in Canada are not allowed to discuss what was said during a deliberation so the question that remains unanswered is whether the panel factored Bain’s mental health at the time of the shooting into their decision.
The issue was brought up several times on Tuesday as Guttman and prosecutor Maude Payette argued before a panel of five Quebec Court of Appeal judges.
Payette argued that the jury obviously rejected the testimony of psychiatrist Marie-Frédérique Allard, who evaluated Bain as having been delusional at the time of the shooting from an undiagnosed bipolar disorder.
“We don’t now why they acquitted him of first-degree murder,” Payette said while stating the Crown still wants Bain to serve 25 years before he becomes eligible. “He committed a political crime. It is serious and the court should denounce it. If there ever was a crime where (the maximum) should be ordered, it is in Mr. Bain’s case.
“Mr. Bain committed one of the worst crimes in the history of Quebec and Canada.”
At least three of the five judges who heard the appeal noted Bain’s age and how he would be almost 82 years old when he becomes eligible for parole if the appellate court does nothing, and how he would be 87 if it agrees with the Crown’s request.
“What would that change for the Crown?” Justice Allan Hilton asked Perreault at one point.
While making his arguments, Guttman called the jury’s verdict “strange and perplexing.”
He repeated his argument that what Bain did had more to do with mental illness than political motivation.
Guttman also noted how Bain had no previous criminal record and had a steady job most of his adult life before the shooting.
“Something happened. It wasn’t in Bain’s character to do something like this. If he was a career criminal, I could understand (applying the maximum). I can’t speculate (on what the jury was thinking) but they must have taken into consideration his mental state,” Guttman told reporters after the hearing ended.
He also pointed out that Bain is currently incarcerated at the Archambault Institution, a federal penitentiary in Ste-Anne-des-Plaines, in a facility with other inmates with mental health issues. The attorney said Bain has been diagnosed as bipolar and is taking medication for the mental illness.
Justice Nicole Duval Hesler, the chief justice of Quebec, was one of the five judges who heard the appeal on Tuesday. She said the court will deliberate on the matter before delivering its decision.