The verdict fell this Friday, June 28, in the trial of the murder of Thomas Mercier, a brilliant watchmaking engineer killed in Besançon on November 9, 2021 with 22 scissor stabs. The accused, Kévin Berardi, was given the sentence of twenty years of criminal imprisonmentaccompanied by twenty years of socio-judicial monitoring, an obligation to receive treatment and a ban on carrying weapons for fifteen years.
A verdict that follows the requisitions of the attorney general, Claire Keller, pronounced this Friday morning. The latter had requested the maximum sentence when one recognizes the alteration of discernment, namely twenty years of criminal imprisonment, as well as twenty-year socio-judicial monitoring, an injunction for treatment**,** the ban on contacting the civil parties, the obligation to pay damages, but also a ban on carrying a weapon during fifteen years and ten years of ineligibility. She finally requested that in the event of non-execution of this sentence, the accused would be directly sentenced to seven years in prison.
The abolition of discernment not recognized
As the civil parties hoped, the abolition of discernment was not recognized. “It is a murder that you judge and not an accident“, argued this Friday morning Maître Jérôme Pichoff, the lawyer for Thomas Mercier’s family, during a plea lasting more than an hour. For him, Kévin Berardi was aware, even partially, of what he was doing at the time of the murder : “He voluntarily took cocaine, which he then violently attacked Thomas Mercier. When you voluntarily take drugs, and you know that it can make you violent, you are responsible.”
For Kevin Berardi’s lawyer, on the other hand, the abolition of discernment applied well to his client. At the moment he kills Thomas Mercier, “there was a madness of Mr. Berardi and I want it to be recognized“, supported Maître Catherine Bresson during her plea, then calling on the jurors to apply article 122-1 of the Penal Code, which sets out this principle.”This is an extremely difficult case, it is difficult to defend the indefensible. But given this abundance of delusional ideas of Mr. Berardi at the time of the events, it appears that he was indeed suffering from a disorder at the time of the murder..”
More information to come.
