A jury has started deliberating in the trial of a Quebec man charged with the first-degree murder and sexual assault of 19-year-old junior college student Guylaine Potvin in 2000. Potvin, shown in a Quebec provincial police handout photo, was found dead in her apartment in Jonquière, Que., on April 28, 2000. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Surete du Quebec **MANDATORY CREDIT**
SAGUENAY, Que. – Jurors have started deliberating in the trial of a Quebec man charged with the first-degree murder and sexual assault of 19-year-old junior college student Guylaine Potvin in 2000.
Superior Court Justice François Huot finished delivering his instructions today in the Saguenay, Que., trial of Marc-André Grenon.
Grenon, 49, is charged with murdering and assaulting Potvin in her basement apartment in April 2000 in Jonquière, Que., now a part of Saguenay, some 215 kilometres north of Quebec City.
The Crown is pushing for a first-degree murder conviction, arguing that Grenon killed Potvin during the course of a sexual assault that began while she was asleep in her bed.
The defence has admitted that Grenon broke into Potvin’s apartment and killed her, but has argued that her death happened during a robbery attempt and has suggested he be convicted on the lesser charge of second-degree murder.
Huot reminded the jury that a first-degree murder is a homicide that is planned and deliberate, adding that a murder is also considered first-degree if it took place in the same chain of events as a sexual assault.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 20, 2024.
