Killings of the Turcotte children

Background

Guy Turcotte, born April 21, 1972, worked with his wife, Isabelle Gaston, at Hôtel-Dieu de Saint-Jérôme, a hospital in Saint-Jérôme, Quebec, where Gaston worked as an emergency-room physician and coroner. The couple met in 1999, moved in together in 2000, and became engaged after a period of relationship difficulties that included domestic violence from both parties. Turcotte's brother, Gilles Turcotte, described him as an attentive father.

In mid-January 2009, shortly before a planned family trip to Mexico, Turcotte learned that Gaston was having an affair with Martin Huot, a personal trainer and friend of the family. The couple separated after returning from the trip, agreeing to share custody. During the separation, tensions escalated: Turcotte learned the children had attended a Quebec City carnival with Gaston and Huot, and that Huot had been staying at the family home almost nightly. On February 10, 2009, Turcotte confronted and punched Huot at the family residence. On February 20, 2009, following a confrontation in which Gaston told him she had changed the locks and consulted a lawyer, Turcotte became distressed, later stating he searched online for suicide methods that night.

The Killings

On the morning of February 21, 2009, police responded to a 911 call after Turcotte expressed suicidal thoughts to his mother. Officers entering the home found the bodies of his two children, a boy and a girl. Turcotte was found under his bed, covered in vomit and blood, and told police he had drunk windshield washer fluid and wanted to die. In later testimony, Turcotte described stabbing his son, who cried out and tried to move away, and recalled a similar memory involving his daughter, followed by drinking windshield washer fluid and searching unsuccessfully for the knife to harm himself.

First Trial and Appeal

Turcotte was charged with two counts of first-degree murder. His first trial began April 12, 2011, and on July 5, 2011, a jury returned a verdict of not criminally responsible due to mental disorder (adjustment disorder with anxiety and depressive mood). The Crown successfully appealed, with the appellate court finding that trial judge Justice Marc David of the Superior Court, District of Terrebonne, had erred in law regarding the issue of self-induced methanol intoxication combined with mental disorder.

Second Trial and Sentencing

Turcotte spent 46 months in psychiatric care, including time at Institut Philippe-Pinel de Montréal, before being deemed fit for release; in 2012 he testified before a mental health review board that he was improved and not a danger to others. His lawyer, Pierre Poupart, sought in 2014 to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. Turcotte was released on $100,000 bail on September 12, 2014, ahead of a new trial scheduled for September 2015. In December 2015, a jury found Turcotte guilty of second-degree murder for the deaths of his two children. On January 15, 2016, he was sentenced to life in prison, with parole eligibility after 17 years.