After 34 years of waiting, justice will finally prevail for Daniel Jolivet: the federal justice minister ordered a new trial on Friday because there was “likely a miscarriage of justice.” The Crown intends to examine the case in the “coming months.”
Published at 11:00.
Updated at 11:28 am.
“This is not about deciding guilt or innocence; that will be decided by the courts. Our responsibility is to ensure Canadians can trust their justice system, which means, in rare cases, taking cases to trial,” Minister Sean Fraser said in a statement.
Daniel Jolivet and his lawyer will speak to the media at 12:30 p.m.
Daniel Jolivet waited half his life for this decision. Arrested in 1992, he was sentenced to life in prison in 1994 for the murders of Denis Lemieux, Francois Leblanc, Catherine Morin and Nathalie Beauregard. However, he never stopped declaring his innocence. Even at 69 years old.
For years, his lawyers from the Innocence Project Quebec have worked diligently to establish the truth. They found that the Crown withheld important evidence from the defense during the trial. Moreover, the Crown’s star witness – a gunman turned dubious informant – himself had a motive to kill the victims.
Another strange element: the case mysteriously disappeared between the trial and the Supreme Court’s decision in 2000. Despite repeated requests to the Criminal Sentence Review Group, Daniel Jolivet always remained in custody.
Press analyzed the “Jolivet case” in 2023 from the pen of columnist Yves Boisvert. Since then events have continued.
A major turnaround came last year when the Director of Crime and Prosecution (DPCP) officially stated that Daniel Jolivet “probably did not have the right to a fair and equitable trial.” According to the Crown, “Mr. Jolivet’s allegations of a miscarriage of justice are not without merit.”
The decision led to a retrial of the entire case by former Court of Appeal Judge Robert Mainville. Meanwhile, Daniel Jolivet was finally able to gain freedom – under certain conditions – last December. A particularly moving moment for this man, who has been in custody for 33 years.
Since the report was presented in February, the fate of Daniel Jolivet has been in the hands of federal Justice Minister Sean Fraser. He had several options: deny the motion, send the case back to the Court of Appeal for retrial, or order a new trial.
It was this latter path that Minister Fraser chose after “careful analysis”.
“This finding follows from the discovery of new information that was not known to the courts at the time of Mr. Jolivet’s trial or appeal. As a result of the order, the case is remanded to trial for consideration of the new elements,” the minister said.
The DPCP must now decide whether a new trial will indeed take place.
“Over the coming months, the DPCP will conduct an exhaustive review of the available evidence to determine whether, in particular, the continuation of the proceedings is in the public interest, all in accordance with the guidelines currently in force,” commented DPCP spokesman Mr.e Lucas Bastien.
In short, Daniel Jolivet could still face trial in the coming years. But 34 years later, with dead witnesses and questionable actions by the prosecutor at the time, Daniel Jolivet has every reason to hope for a different outcome. For example, the DPCP may decide not to provide evidence, resulting in Mr. Jolivet’s acquittal.
Until the DPCP’s decision, Daniel Jolivet is presumed innocent. According to the conditions of his release, he must surrender in prison in the coming days. However, the defense could file a motion to keep him free pending trial.