Former Quebec judge pleads guilty to manslaughter in the death of his wife

After nearly 15 years of legal battles, Jacques Delisle, a former judge on the Quebec Court of Appeal, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of his wife.

Appearing in a Quebec City court room on Thursday wearing a mask, Delisle approached the stand and accepted the plea.

“Delisle wants every 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 Delisle 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 in jail. The judge is deliberating and will give his final remarks at 10:15 a.m.

In his first trial in 2012, he was convicted of the first-degree murder of his wife, 71-year-old Marie Nicole Rainville, 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 if he had killed her.

Delisle, now 88, said he gave her the gun, but he denied shooting her. Delisle had maintained his innocence.

After spending nearly a decade 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.

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 awaiting a decision on the second trial.

The Supreme Court of Canada was slated to announce whether it would hear the case on Thursday, but on Wednesday, the supreme court withdrew the case following a discontinuance notice by Delisle’s team.