Doctor Guy Turcotte, who killed his son and daughter, wants to have more children | News | National Post
MONTREAL — A doctor who confessed to stabbing his two young children to death in 2009, but was found by a jury to be not criminally responsible for his acts because of his mental state, wants to have more children.
A psychiatrist testifying Friday, before Dr. Guy Turcotte’s mental health review board — convened to determine whether he poses a risk to the public if released from Montreal’s Pinel Institute — says neither Turcotte nor his doctors can make sense of what happened when he stabbed his two young children to death in February 2009, shortly after his marriage fell apart.
The long-awaited hearing was told Turcotte also wants to get back to work as a cardiologist, and can see himself falling in love again, but will probably move to another province.
Everything is now as it was before he killed his children, said Dr. Pierre Rochette — no one can predict what will happen.
Rochette is recommending Turcotte stay at Pinel for the next year.
Turcotte is someone who falls in love easily, and he has received letters from female admirers. Rochette said he worried another dangerous situation could arise.
Turcotte was found by a jury to be not criminally responsible for his acts because of his mental state.
The trial, which featured 10 weeks of heart-wrenching testimony at the St. Jerome, Que., courthouse, ended July 5 when a jury of 11 people came to the unanimous decision not to convict Turcotte, but rather send him to the Pinel Institute psychiatric treatment.
Normally a mental-health review panel of three professionals is given the mandate to determine the degree of danger that an inmate represents for society and whether he or she can be released from the psychiatric hospital.
Given the complexity of Turcotte’s case, the panel was expanded to include five people: two lawyers, Medard Saucier and Lucien Leblanc; two psychiatrists, Georges Painchaud and Chantal Caron; and a social worker, Joseph Anglade.
The panel can release Turcotte with conditions, release him without conditions or order that he stay at Pinel indefinitely.
If either of the last two options is chosen, it will be reviewed annually by the board.
Lawyer Jean-Claude Hebert, spokesman for the Administrative Tribunal of Quebec on the case, said the panel “will take the whole file into consideration — the police investigation, the elements of proof produced at the trial, the opinions of all the experts, all the other proof from the trial.”
Isabelle Gaston, Turcotte’s ex-wife and the mother of the slain children, could also present a victim-impact statement.
The panel could take weeks, if not months, to reach a decision on Turcotte’s ability to rejoin society.
In the meantime, the Crown has sought leave to appeal the verdict in Turcotte’s trial, because it says Justice Marc David erred in his instructions to the jury and may have unduly influenced jury members to find Turcotte not guilty by reason of mental disorder.
Montreal Gazette
MONTREAL — A doctor who confessed to stabbing his two young children to death in 2009, but was found by a jury to be not criminally responsible for his acts because of his mental state, wants to have more children.
A psychiatrist testifying Friday, before Dr. Guy Turcotte’s mental health review board — convened to determine whether he poses a risk to the public if released from Montreal’s Pinel Institute — says neither Turcotte nor his doctors can make sense of what happened when he stabbed his two young children to death in February 2009, shortly after his marriage fell apart.
The long-awaited hearing was told Turcotte also wants to get back to work as a cardiologist, and can see himself falling in love again, but will probably move to another province.
Everything is now as it was before he killed his children, said Dr. Pierre Rochette — no one can predict what will happen.
Rochette is recommending Turcotte stay at Pinel for the next year.
Turcotte is someone who falls in love easily, and he has received letters from female admirers. Rochette said he worried another dangerous situation could arise.
Turcotte was found by a jury to be not criminally responsible for his acts because of his mental state.
The trial, which featured 10 weeks of heart-wrenching testimony at the St. Jerome, Que., courthouse, ended July 5 when a jury of 11 people came to the unanimous decision not to convict Turcotte, but rather send him to the Pinel Institute psychiatric treatment.
Normally a mental-health review panel of three professionals is given the mandate to determine the degree of danger that an inmate represents for society and whether he or she can be released from the psychiatric hospital.
Given the complexity of Turcotte’s case, the panel was expanded to include five people: two lawyers, Medard Saucier and Lucien Leblanc; two psychiatrists, Georges Painchaud and Chantal Caron; and a social worker, Joseph Anglade.
The panel can release Turcotte with conditions, release him without conditions or order that he stay at Pinel indefinitely.
If either of the last two options is chosen, it will be reviewed annually by the board.
Lawyer Jean-Claude Hebert, spokesman for the Administrative Tribunal of Quebec on the case, said the panel “will take the whole file into consideration — the police investigation, the elements of proof produced at the trial, the opinions of all the experts, all the other proof from the trial.”
Isabelle Gaston, Turcotte’s ex-wife and the mother of the slain children, could also present a victim-impact statement.
The panel could take weeks, if not months, to reach a decision on Turcotte’s ability to rejoin society.
In the meantime, the Crown has sought leave to appeal the verdict in Turcotte’s trial, because it says Justice Marc David erred in his instructions to the jury and may have unduly influenced jury members to find Turcotte not guilty by reason of mental disorder.
Montreal Gazette
