On Oct. 19, 2019, a jury found Ugo Fredette guilty of the first-degree murder of his estranged spouse and a 71-year-old man.
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A panel of three judges with the Court of Appeal rejected his bid on Friday.
On Oct. 19, 2019, a jury found Fredette guilty of the first-degree murder of Véronique Barbe, his estranged spouse, and Yvon Lacasse, a 71-year-old man. Fredette killed Lacasse at a rest stop in Lachute after he killed Barbe. He stole Lacasse’s car because he had fled from Barbe’s home with a six-year-old child and descriptions of his vehicle had been broadcast and published by media after the Sûreté du Québec issued an Amber Alert.
He was caught the next day in Ontario.
Fredette’s lawyer, Sylvain Comtois, argued before the Court of Appeal in September that Judge Myriam Lachance erred in her directives to the jury at the end of the trial. The judge told jurors that they had to take into account other charges against Fredette, on top of the two accusations of murder, but that they didn’t have to be unanimous in their judgment of those infractions, only on the verdict of premeditated murder.
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Comtois argued the jurors must be unanimous on all counts in order to arrive at a verdict. The decision of the Court of Appeal, signed by Judge Patrick Healy, rejected the motion.
In the decision, Healy wrote that the jury “did not have to be unanimous on all the facts and each element of proof. To come to their verdict, certain members of the jury could base their verdict on certain facts or evidence, while others could use other facts or evidence. This principle has been established for a long time.”
Judge Lachance condemned Fredette to prison without possibility of parole for 25 years, even though the prosecution was looking for a minimum of 50 years, with consecutive sentences of 25 years for each murder. She had to wait for a decision before the Court of Appeal in the case of Alexandre Bissonnette, responsible for the killing of six people at a Quebec City mosque, who was appealing his sentencing of 40 years without parole. In November 2020, the Court of Appeal reversed that decision, saying it was unconstitutional, and reduced Bissonnette’s sentence to 25 years.
That decision is under appeal before the Supreme Court of Canada. A decision is expected next year. In the meantime, the prosecution in Fredette’s case is still calling for a sentence of 50 years, and is awaiting the Supreme Court’s decision to decide whether or not it will pursue its demand.
Quebec Court of Appeal denies double murderer's request for new trial - Montreal Gazette
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