Jacques Delisle (May 4, 1935 – August 10, 2024) was a Canadian judge who sat on the

Quebec Superior Court The Superior Court of Quebec () is a superior trial court in the Province of Quebec, in Canada. It consists of 157 judges who are appointed by the federal government. Appeals from this court are taken to the Quebec Court of Appeal. Jurisdictio ...

from 1985 to 1992, and on the

Quebec Court of Appeal The Court of Appeal of Quebec (sometimes referred to as Quebec Court of Appeal or QCA; ) is the highest judicial court in Quebec, Canada. It hears cases in Quebec City and Montreal. History The court was created on May 30, 1849, as the Court ...

from 1992 until his retirement in 2009. In June 2010, he was arrested, charged and subsequently convicted of

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

, in connection with the November 2009 death of his wife Marie-Nicole Rainville. Delisle was the first judge in Canadian history to be charged with murder. His trial began in May 2012; it had been scheduled to begin in 2011, but was delayed after one of the

prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...

s withdrew. On June 14, 2012, Delisle was found guilty of first-degree murder for killing his wife. He subsequently

appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which Legal case, cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of cla ...

ed his conviction; in May 2013, the Quebec Court of Appeal upheld the decision, and in December 2013, the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; , ) is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants eac ...

declined to hear his case.

Later developments

Delisle, who did not testify at his trial, stated in March 2015 that his wife had committed suicide with a gun which he had supplied, a position reportedly supported by forensic experts. On March 19, 2015, Justice Minister

Peter MacKay Peter Gordon MacKay (born September 27, 1965), a Canadian lawyer and politician, served as Member of Parliament (Canada), Member of Parliament from 1997 to 2015 and as Minister of Justice (Canada), Minister of Justice and Attorney General (20 ...

announced that he would take under consideration Delisle's request for a new trial. On April 7, 2021, Federal Justice Minister

David Lametti David T. Lametti (born August 10, 1962) is a Canadian politician and lawyer who was the member of Parliament for LaSalle—Émard—Verdun from 2015 to 2024. A member of the Liberal Party, Lametti served as minister of justice and attorney g ...

ordered a new trial for Delisle. Both the sentence and conviction were set aside.Nouveau procès pour l’ex-juge Jacques Delisle
by Kathryne Lamontagne; in ''

Le Journal de Québec ''Le Journal de Québec'' is a French-language daily newspaper in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. Printed in tabloid format, it has the highest circulation for a Quebec City newspaper, with its closest competitor being '' Le Soleil''. It was foun ...

''; published April 7, 2021; retrieved April 7, 2021 On April 8, 2022, Quebec Superior Court Justice Jean-François Émond ruled that Delisle would not face a second trial. On April 28, 2022, the Directeur des poursuites criminelles et pénales (DPCP) appealed Émond's decision. Delisle died on August 10, 2024, at the age of 89.Former Quebec judge Jacques Delisle dead at 89
''Cbc.ca''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Delisle, Jacques 1935 births 2024 deaths Lawyers from Montreal Judges in Quebec Université Laval alumni Canadian people convicted of murder Judges convicted of crimes Criminals from Montreal