After a full hour of deliberation, the Melun court found Pierre Palmade guilty of involuntary injuries 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 narcotics. 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. Pierre Palmade will be incarcerated in the Bordeaux region, where he lives.
Appearing very marked, the 56-year-old comedian spoke directly to the victims during the trial, on the occasion of his first public expression in this highly publicized affair.
“I would like to ask you for forgiveness from the depths of my being,” he declared with his hand on his stomach, small childish eyes staring into the middle of a livid face. “The serious injuries of MY and the trauma of Mrs. C. (Editor’s note: who lost her six-month-old fetus), it knocked me down. I am really overwhelmed, tested to see them in real life,” said the man who has become a showbiz pariah.
For 17 months and his nightclub outing in Bordeaux which made the rounds on social networks and outraged France – even the president of the court, who was moved by it at the hearing – Pierre Palmade has been abstinent. He undergoes urine screenings two to three times a week.
According to his sister Hélène Palmade and his sponsor at Narcotics Anonymous, his progress brings hope. “He is taking care of himself and I firmly believe for the first time that he is going to do everything right,” said his younger sister at the helm.
“I rediscover the simple pleasures of friendship, of family, of waking up in good shape, of writing personal thoughts,” assured the artist, who does not plan to one day return to the stage, but “is looking for a way to convey a message about drugs, a message of recovery and hope.”
