Lac-Mégantic jury deliberations reach an impasse on Day 6
SHERBROOKE, QUE.— A judge urged jurors in the Lac-Mégantic trial on Tuesday to try once more to reach unanimous verdicts after they told him they had come to an impasse on Day 6 of deliberations.
Quebec Superior Court Justice Gaetan Dumas told the eight men and four women that failing to reach verdicts for the three accused will not reflect badly on them, provided they “made an honest effort.”
But he nonetheless exhorted them to try again, and the eight men and four women will enter Day 7 of deliberations today.
“The law gives me the power to dissolve the jury if it appears that holding you longer would be useless,” Dumas said. “This power can’t be used lightly or prematurely.
“Will you please try once again to reach a verdict? This is a time for each of you to reflect further on the evidence and to see how, listening to each other carefully and reasoning together, you can come to an agreement.”
The jurors are deliberating the fate of Tom Harding, Richard Labrie and Jean Demaitre. The three were charged with criminal negligence causing the 2013 tragedy that killed 47 people when a runaway train carrying crude oil derailed and exploded.
All three accused can be found guilty of criminal negligence causing the death of 47 people, while jurors have the option of convicting Harding on one of two other charges: dangerous operation of railway equipment or dangerous operation of railway equipment causing death.
Harding was the train’s engineer, Labrie the traffic controller and Demaitre the manager of train operations.
The three men each pleaded not guilty.