The Supreme Court of Canada is ordering a new trial for Éric Deslauriers, a Sûreté du Québec police officer who was convicted of manslaughter.
The verdict, which was issued in September 2017, was in connection with the shooting death of a 17-year-old in Sainte-Adèle in January 2014.
Police had pursued the victim, who was driving a stolen car, to a parking lot. Deslauriers later testified that he fired because he believed the youth was going to run into him with the vehicle.
In March 2020, Quebec’s top court overturned the guilty verdict and ordered a new trial. In its decision, the appellate court cited errors on the part of the Quebec court judge who oversaw the trial and said it considered the risk of judicial error in this case very real.
However, the ruling was not a unanimous decision from the Court of Appeal, so the case ended up before the Supreme Court.
On Wednesday morning, the case was heard. The Supreme Court justices ruled against the Crown, which appealed the appeal court’s decision. Deslauriers will have to stand a new trial.
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