In a Canadian first, a retired judge has been charged with first degree murder, raising uncomfortable questions about who will sit in judgment on an accused former colleague.
Former Quebec Court of Appeal judge Jacques Delisle, 75, was accused on Tuesday of the premeditated murder of his wife Marie-Nicole Rainville, 71.
It is the first time a Canadian judge has been charged with murder, according to Martine Bérubé, the spokesperson for the province's director of criminal and penal prosecutions. In an exceptional legal procedure, used only in highly sensitive cases, the results of the police investigation were first presented behind closed doors to a judge who also heard from witnesses and prosecutors before determining whether charges could be laid.
The last time the procedure was used was to lay fraud charges against the province's former lieutenant-governor, Lise Thibault. Those charges are still before the court.
Police were called to Justice Delisle's home in November 2009 after receiving a call about a possible suicide, police spokeswoman Sandra Dion said Tuesday. "Quebec City police received a call around 10:32 a.m. and were told that a woman had taken her life. There was an investigation … and today we proceeded with the arrest of a 75 year-old man."
According to court documents, Justice Delisle was also charged with the illegal possession of a prohibited firearm.
Justice Delisle was appointed to the Quebec Superior Court in 1983 and promoted to the Court of Appeal in 1992. He retired in 2000.
Quebec City criminal lawyer Jean-Pierre Rancourt told LCN all-news network that Justice Delisle was well respected in the legal community and considered a fair and competent judge.
According to Mr. Rancourt, the Quebec Superior Court is in an awkward position. It will next have to rule on a request from Justice Delisle's lawyer, Jacques Larochelle, for release on bail pending a trial.
"It may be one of his former colleagues from the Quebec Superior Court that will take the decision. And at trial it may be another former colleague from the same court who will hear the case. This is a precedent in Canada and the legal community is quite shocked by all of this," Mr. Rancourt said.
Justice Delisle graduated from law school at Laval University in 1957 and completed graduate studies at Sorbonne and the University of Toronto after being admitted to the Quebec Bar in 1958.
He married Nicole Rainville in Quebec City in September 1960. The couple had two children Élène and Jean.
The retired judge is scheduled to appear in court on June 21 to set a date for a preliminary hearing.