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New Quebec murder trial ordered, this time in English
Quote:
New murder trial ordered, this time in English
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
In an apparent first in the annals of Canadian justice, a man convicted of two horrific homicides has won another day in court after Quebec's highest tribunal ruled his trial should have been conducted in English.
Shawn Denver-Lambert was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder in 2004 for the killing a decade earlier of two elderly residents of Val-Bélair, a suburb of the provincial capital.
It appears Denver-Lambert and an accomplice, Pierre Lévesque, broke into the home of Maurille Lepage, 82, and his 79-year-old wife, Béatrice Lavoie, in the early evening of April 9, 1994, in the belief - wrongly, it turned out - that the couple had $100,000 in cash there.
Lavoie was beaten to death with a majorette's baton while Lepage was beaten so badly with the barrel and sight of a rifle that he died 12 days later.
It took police nine years to catch up with the two men, who were tried and convicted together in a seven-day trial by a jury at the Quebec City courthouse.
Born in San Diego, Denver-Lambert moved to Quebec at the age of nine months and lived here most of his life. He returned to the U.S. after the killings, however, before being extradited back to Canada to face justice in 2004.
Just days before his trial began, Denver-Lambert's lawyer formally asked that it be conducted in English. The judge refused, on the grounds Denver-Lambert had undergone six hours of questioning by police in French without ever asking that the questions be asked - or his answers given - in English.
The judge also denied Lévesque's request for a separate trial, based on his repeated claims that Denver-Lambert killed the couple while he searched the house for the money, eventually finding about $10,000.
Instead, the two men were tried together, with proceedings being simultaneously translated for Denver-Lambert despite his mastery of French.
"He didn't need (the translation) at all," Denver-Lambert's lawyer in the trial, Rénald Beaudry, told The Gazette last night. "(Denver-Lambert) is perfectly bilingual."
He added, however, that the Criminal Code makes it clear that an accused has the right to have - and the court and Crown have an obligation to provide - a trial in either French or English.
"Canada is a bilingual country," said Beaudry, newly elected president of the Association québécoises des avocats et des avocates de la défense.
After the conviction, Beaudry filed an appeal on those grounds.
Last week, three judges of the Quebec Court of Appeal agreed.
In a decision rendered Sept. 29, Judges Michel Robert, Benoît Morin and Lorne Giroux ordered that 41-year-old Denver-Lambert be granted a new trial, this time in English.
They also ordered a new trial for Lévesque, after ruling that the trial judge had erred in his directions to the jury.
In their decision, the judges cited jurisprudence arising from the case of Jean Victor Beaulac, a francophone who was charged with murder in British Columbia. In 1999, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that he had a right to a trial in French.
According to various lawyers contacted by The Gazette, the Beaulac case is a commonly used reference in criminal and civil courts across the country.
"I use Beaulac all the time in my cases," Montreal civil lawyer Brent Tyler said yesterday. "It's not a new law, but an established principle."
While unfamiliar with the Denver-Lambert case, Tyler said that he has never before heard of the Beaulac principle being used by an anglo in such a serious criminal case.
"It's completely new to me," he said. "It sounds like the English case of Beaulac."
Should they be entitled to a second trial at all? (In my opinion he shouldn't as he had questioning in French without requesting English be used, and is apparently perfectly bilingual) Certainly one of the more interesting cases to ever come to prominence.
10-05-2007, 03:23 AM
New Quebec murder trial ordered, this time in English Post #2
ethically, no he shouldn't, as if he speaks French anyway, there is no reason to, however there's always these stupid rules in law ( this one is presumably supposed to be in place because Canada is Bilingual, in regions, but not every citizen will speak both languages, they just didn't word it properly ) and legally he has a right to a re-trial, even though he didn't suffer as a consequence of the trial being held in French.
10-05-2007, 11:49 AM
New Quebec murder trial ordered, this time in English Post #3
He added, however, that the Criminal Code makes it clear that an accused has the right to have - and the court and Crown have an obligation to provide - a trial in either French or English.
Yes, stupid judge BTW.
10-05-2007, 03:10 PM
New Quebec murder trial ordered, this time in English Post #5
Originally posted by ishlilith:
<BLOCKQUOTE>Originally posted by Worcester City Researcher:
Should they be entitled to a second trial at all?
Quote:
He added, however, that the Criminal Code makes it clear that an accused has the right to have - and the court and Crown have an obligation to provide - a trial in either French or English.
Yes, stupid judge BTW. </BLOCKQUOTE>
WHS
Its not the fact that this guy is bi-lingual
Its the precident that this judge almost set by denying him the right to chose which language his trial was held in
10-05-2007, 05:36 PM
New Quebec murder trial ordered, this time in English Post #6
He added, however, that the Criminal Code makes it clear that an accused has the right to have - and the court and Crown have an obligation to provide - a trial in either French or English.
He had a trial, ffs. In French. Where's the problem ?
New Quebec murder trial ordered, this time in English 
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