Former Quebec judge pleads guilty to manslaughter in the death of his wife
After nearly 15 years of le‐ gal battles, Jacques Delisle, a former judge on the Que‐ bec Court of Appeal, has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of his wife.
Appearing in a Quebec City court room on Thursday wearing a mask, Delisle ap‐ proached the stand and ac‐ cepted the plea.
"Delisle wants everything to end today," said his lawyer, Jacques Larochelle.
Larochelle said while they agreed to the plea, parties disagreed on the facts, as the Crown maintained that Delis‐ le took an active part in the death of his wife.
Taking into consideration that Delisle served eight years and 310 days in prison, his lawyers have agreed to the Crown's request that Delisle spend one more day incarcerated.
Following a pause, the judge sentenced Delisle to one day in jail, saying that it ensures that the time he al‐ ready served can be taken in‐ to consideration in his sen‐ tence.
Delisle hobbled out of the room and muttered "oh no" as he was handcuffed by police.
Speaking with reporters, Larochelle clarified that al‐ though Delisle is sentenced to one day in jail, he will only serve a few hours and will be released later today. Shortly after 3 p.m., Delise left the courthouse a free man.
'This case, somewhere, sometime, has to come to an end': Crown
Larochelle said he initially suggested a charge of as‐ sisting suicide, which he thought was more appropri‐ ate, but he says it was not ac‐ cepted "for reasons that are beyond my comprehension."
"In the end, it comes to the same result," said Larochelle.
"There is not this cloud over him anymore, that's cer‐ tainly a relief."
Noah Weisbord, associate professor of criminal law at McGill University, says aiding someone to commit suicide is illegal in Canada but "does‐ n't have the moral opprobri‐ um that manslaughter does."
"Assisted suicide has less of a stigma, so it looks like you're doing something that's somewhat justifiable ... If the person really was in pain, for example," said Weis‐ bord.
Crown prosecutor François Godin said he ac‐ cepted the manslaughter plea but would not accept the plea of assisted suicide because he says "that's not what happened."
"We still believe Mr. Delis‐ le would have been found of first-degree murder if he would have stood trial," said Godin.
"This case, somewhere, sometime, has to come to an end. It's been 15 years, he spent almost nine years in prison, 88 years old. We do not believe he would have been able to stand trial."
'There's no winner,' says criminal defence lawyer
Criminal defence lawyer Ré‐ nald Beaudry, who was at the court house on Thursday, agrees. He was pleased to witness the end of what has been a long legal battle.
"Even members of the public were starting to say 'leave him alone, he's 88 years old, [he spent] nine years in prison, so we can move on.' So I suppose that also weighed on the prosecu‐ tion," said Beaudry.
"There's no winner, not the family, not the prosecu‐ tion. The only winner is the legal system, which has final‐ ly found a solution after 15 years. It's been very long, it's been very costly."
James Lockyer, director of Innocence Canada, says Delisle's reputation was "ex‐ cellent until all this hap‐ pened."
Lockyer took on the former judge's case in 2014, when Delisle had lost all his appeals, helping bring his ap‐ plication to the federal justice minister.
Lockyer, who is still con‐ nected with Delisle's family and lawyer, says it may have been difficult for Delisle to make the decision to take a plea, but he likely did it to be able to live out his last days "in peace."
"Whilst today has an un‐ satisfactory tinge to it, it's nevertheless a day that en‐ ables Mr. Delisle and his family to get back to normal‐ cy," said Lockyer.
"I think it's very under‐ standable what he did today … It's been an awful experi‐ ence for them."
WATCH | How Jacques Delisle went from judge to convicted killer:
New trial ordered after nearly 9 years in prison for Delisle
In his first trial in 2012, he was convicted of the first-de‐ gree murder of his wife, 71year-old Marie Nicole Rainvil‐ le, who died in 2009.
Rainville, who had been partially paralyzed due to a stroke, died of a gunshot to the head. Delisle's first trial hinged on detailed forensic analysis over whether she had taken her own life or he had killed her.
Delisle, now 88, said he gave her the gun, but he de‐ nied shooting her. Delisle had maintained his inno‐ cence.
After spending nearly nine years in prison, he was then awarded another trial when the federal justice minister, David Lametti, said that a "miscarriage of justice likely occurred" in part because one of the Crown's experts made serious mistakes in the original pathology report that led to Delisle's conviction.
However, the report sub‐ mitted to Lametti and ob‐ tained by Radio-Canada, did not reveal any miscarriage of justice. The document, which has been under a publication ban until now, said Delisle's defence strategy - which in‐ cluded a decision not to have him testify - was a risky one which, in the end, did not serve him well.
Delisle's second trial was also plagued by delays. He was first awarded a stay of proceedings in 2022 by a Quebec Superior Court judge, but then ordered to go ahead with the trial when the Quebec Court of Appeal overturned that decision. He has been walking free await‐ ing a decision on the second trial.
The Supreme Court of Canada was slated to an‐ nounce whether it would hear the case on Thursday, but on Wednesday, the supreme court withdrew the case following a discontinu‐ ance notice by Delisle's team.