The actor was sentenced this Wednesday, November 20 to five years in prison, including two years for the serious road accident he caused while under the influence of drugs. He will soon be summoned to Bordeaux to determine the conditions of his detention, which he will not be able to avoid, even in the event of an appeal.
Pierre Palmade will sleep in prison. The actor was found guilty this Wednesday, November 20, of unintentional injury to a family in the collision he caused on a road in Seine-et-Marne on February 10, 2023 while driving under the influence of drugs.
In accordance with the prosecution's requisitions, the judges sentenced him to five years in prison, three of which were suspended on probation. For the two years in prison, the court issued a deferred committal warrant with provisional execution. Concretely, even if he appeals his conviction, Pierre Palmade will be incarcerated pending a possible second trial.
A meeting with the judge in the coming days
“You will very soon be summoned by the Bordeaux prosecutor (where he now resides, editor’s note) who will determine the date and the penitentiary establishment in which you will serve two years of detention,” explained the president of the court to Pierre Palmade during the announcement of the verdict.
“We cannot be too lenient when driving under the influence of drugs has caused a tragedy,” said prosecutor Marie-Denise Pichonnier a few dozen minutes earlier. “It is indeed the misconduct of Mr. Pierre Palmade which is the direct cause of all the damage suffered by the victims,” she recalled.
Pierre Palmade will go to prison, but not tonight – 20/11
On February 10, 2023, at the end of the day, Pierre Palmade had a large quantity of cocaine and 3MMC (a synthetic drug) in his blood when he got behind the wheel. His car had collided with a Renault Mégane coming head-on with a 38-year-old man, his six-year-old son and his 27-year-old sister-in-law, who lost the baby she was expecting after the collision.
Their vital prognoses once compromised, these three people are still suffering serious physical and psychological after-effects today. During the trial, the actor asked them for “forgiveness.”
A possible appeal, but the actor will sleep in prison
In her plea, Pierre Palmade's lawyer requested a four-year probationary stay and a flexible sentence for her client. Recalling that the actor is currently following a treatment course, she was worried about possible incarceration.
“In prison we find alcohol very easily. What will it be like in prison? What care?” she asked.
“He is surrounded by people who believe in him and are there for him. In prison, there won't be all that. Today he doesn't do anything anymore, no more theater, he doesn't make anyone laugh anymore.” she argued, asking the judges “not to break the path” that Pierre Palmade has taken in recent months.
“It’s shocking to say that he has rediscovered the taste, it’s shocking to say that he has rediscovered something he likes in life: writing, writing plays. He has rediscovered a little of what he was,” she had said.
The comedian has ten days to appeal his conviction. But because the prison sentence is provisional, he will not be able to escape prison. In addition, he risks seeing the court sanction be increased in the event of a possible second trial.
If he was sentenced to five years in prison, three of which were suspended, Pierre Palmade risked 14 years of incarceration, Antoine Régley, a lawyer specializing in road law, explained to BFMTV.com before the trial.
