Dr. Guy Turcotte found not criminally responsible for killing his children

Guy Turcotte – the doctor charged with first-degree murder for stabbing his two children to death – has been found not criminally responsible for killing them.

“I prepared myself for all possible verdicts, but I was not ready for this one,” said Isabelle Gaston, Turcotte’s ex-wife and mother of the slain children.

Jurors submitted their verdict on Tuesday morning at a St. Jerome, Que., courthouse.

It was their sixth day of deliberations.

“I’m disappointed for Anne-Sophie and Olivier, and for all the children who could be in danger because their parents are separating,” Gaston said.

“They were marvelous children, and he will have to live with having hurt them his whole life,” she continued.

Gaston’s ex-husband, a 39-year-old cardiologist, murdered his son, five-year-old Olivier, and daughter, three-year-old Anne-Sophie, on Feb. 21, 2009.

He stabbed them a combined 46 times with kitchen knives as they slept in their beds.

Turcotte had been upset over his separation with Gaston.

He was angry that she had moved on.

Defence lawyer Pierre Poupart argued Turcotte was temporarily insane at the time of their murder.

He said the father was in a deep depression, suffering psychological distress and couldn’t distinguish right from wrong.

Prosecutor Claudia Carbonneau argued that the doctor knew exactly what he was doing – that the father had planned to kill his kids.

The jury had been given four possible verdicts – first-degree murder, second-degree murder, manslaughter and not criminally responsible due to mental illness.

As the verdict was handed down, Gaston shook her head several times, and looked toward Turcotte in the prisoner’s box.

The doctor started to cry when the verdict was announced.

Outside the courtroom, Gaston said she does not want an appeal, and will not set foot into a courtroom again.

She also thanked the prosecutors and the police for their hard work.

The trial had lasted two-and-a-half months.