Lac-Mégantic accused won’t testify at trial

SHERBROOKE, Que. — Lawyers representing the three men charged with criminal negligence in the Lac-Mégantic rail disaster that killed 47 people announced in court Tuesday they won’t call any witnesses.

As a consequence, the 14 jurors were released and are scheduled to return to court Jan. 3 for closing statements from the Crown, followed by the final arguments from lawyers for the accused.

Tom Harding and former colleagues Richard Labrie and Jean Demaître are each facing one count of criminal negligence causing the death of 47 people. They have all pleaded not guilty. Thomas Walsh, a lawyer for train conductor Harding, said in an interview the defence teams decided to not call witnesses because they don’t believe the Crown met the burden of proof.

On July 6, 2013, a runaway train carrying crude oil from the United States derailed in LacMégantic and exploded, killing 47 people and destroying part of the downtown core.

The Crown argued the locomotive weighing more than 10,000 tonnes was not properly secured, leaving it resting precariously on a slope, 10 kilometres away from downtown LacMégantic.

Crown prosecutor Véronique Beauchamp told the court at the beginning of the trial the three men were each criminally negligent in their own way for failing to ensure the train was safe.

Beauchamp said she did not want to comment on Tuesday’s developments.