Crown won’t appeal workers’ acquittal in rail disaster

MONTREAL — The Crown will not appeal last month’s acquittal of three former Quebec railway employees who were charged with criminal negligence causing the death of 47 people in the LacMégantic tragedy.

Appealing the verdict is not in the public interest, prosecutors said in a statement Friday. “Following the verdict, and in accordance with their role, the prosecutors conducted a rigorous analysis of the legal issues and concluded that, in the public interest, this file would not be appealed,” the statement read. This Monday was the final date to appeal.

Jurors acquitted Tom Harding, Richard Labrie and Jean Demaitre on Jan. 19 on their ninth day of deliberations. The prosecution had argued the three men were each criminally negligent in their own way for failing to ensure a train was safe before the early hours of July 6, 2013.

That was when the unattended train carrying crude oil rolled down an incline before coming off the tracks in Lac-Mégantic and exploding, killing the 47 people.

Harding was the train’s engineer, Labrie the traffic controller and Demaitre the manager of train operations. Following the acquittals, Crown prosecutor Veronique Beauchamp stated it was unclear whether the Crown would appeal, adding that criminal negligence is one of the most difficult charges to prove.