Former Quebec Court of Appeal judge Jacques Delisle, centre, walks to the courtroom in the Quebec City courthouse, Thursday, March 14, 2024. Delisle’s son Jean Delisle, right, walks behind. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot
QUEBEC – A retired Quebec judge who had been facing a second murder trial in his wife’s 2009 shooting death has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
Jacques Delisle’s lawyer told a Quebec City courtroom today that his client did not shoot Marie Nicole Rainville but he caused her death by leaving a loaded gun next to her, at her request.
Delisle was convicted in 2012 of fatally shooting his wife and was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.
The 88-year-old former Quebec Court of Appeal judge spent nine years behind bars before being freed in 2021 when the federal justice minister ordered a new trial after reviewing evidence and concluding a miscarriage of justice had likely occurred.
Delisle’s lawyer, Jacques Larochelle, painted his client as a loving husband to the ailing Rainville but acknowledged he had taken a more active role in her death by suicide than he previously admitted to police.
Crown prosecutor François Godin said he does not agree with the defence’s version of events but supports the manslaughter plea.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 14, 2024.
