Quebec election-night shooter Bain found guilty of second-degree murder
MONTREAL — A jury has convicted Quebec’s 2012 election-night shooter of second-degree murder in the death of a lighting technician and found him guilty of three counts of attempted murder.
Tuesday’s verdict at the trial of Richard Henry Bain came on the 11th day of jury deliberations.
Bain, 65, was facing a charge of first-degree murder in Denis Blanchette’s death outside a nightclub as then-Parti Québécois leader Pauline Marois was inside celebrating her party’s election win on Sept. 4, 2012.
Instead, the jurors found him guilty of the lesser charge of second-degree murder as they rejected the defence’s argument that he be found not criminally responsible.
“He [Bain] is very happy because had he been convicted of first-degree murder at his age, it would have been a death sentence,” Bain’s lawyer, Alan Guttman, told reporters after speaking briefly to his client.
Guttman said he will consider appealing and will seek the minimum 10-year prison sentence for the seconddegree murder conviction. It carries a maximum of 25 years.
The defence lawyer said he believes a trial by judge alone might have resulted in Bain being found not criminally responsible.
“I did my best and I have no regrets,” said Guttman. “I am exhausted. I spent my whole summer on that.”
Guttman argued throughout the trial that Bain was mentally ill at the time of the slaying, while the Crown said the crimes were planned and politically motivated by anger over the PQ victory.
Bain was heavily armed and wearing a balaclava and a blue bathrobe when he fired a single shot before his rifle jammed.
The bullet killed Blanchette, 48, and seriously injured his colleague, Dave Courage.
The two men were milling about with a dozen colleagues outside the Métropolis club, waiting for the PQ rally to end.
Bain was tackled by police and arrested without firing off another shot, despite several attempts to keep going, civilian and police witnesses told the court.
As he was led away, Bain saw a television camera and yelled in French: “The English are waking up!”
The case centred around Bain’s state of mind as the accused mounted a mental disorder defence outlined in Sec. 16 of the Criminal Code.
The Crown and defence presented two different versions of the night’s events, in part through the duelling reports of two forensic psychiatrists.
The defence’s Marie-Frédérique Allard said Bain was psychotic the night of the shooting, likely stemming from undiagnosed bipolar disorder. Bain believed he was on a mission from God.
The Crown’s expert, Joel Watts, argued Bain wasn’t sick and likely acted out of anger over the PQ victory.
At trial, the accused claimed to have no recollection of the events.
Bain said he had overdosed on Cymbalta, an anti-depressant, which he suggested triggered a memory loss.
Crown prosecutor Dennis Galiatsatos suggested Bain made several decisions that night that raised questions about the defence claim he was psychotic.
Bain asked for directions to the Métropolis, chose the right weapons, loaded them properly and took care to remove the licence plate from his car, Galiatsatos said.