Election night shooter guilty of murder

Man opened fire in 2012 at Parti Québécois bash

MONTREAL— A jury Tuesday 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.

Richard Henry 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 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.

Bain faces a sentence of life imprisonment with no possibility of parole for at least 10 years on the seconddegree murder conviction.

Guttman said that is what he will seek at sentencing arguments scheduled for early September.

He also said he will consider whether to appeal the convictions.

Crown prosecutor Dennis Galiatsatos would not specify the sentence he would seek for the conviction, which stipulates that Bain can be denied parole eligibility for up to 25 years.