The actor will not be able to avoid prison, whether he appeals or not. He will be summoned “within a month” by the public prosecutor’s office in Bordeaux, where he lives, to determine the conditions of his detention.
“Mr. Palmade, approach the bar.” It is 8:30 p.m., Wednesday, November 20, and the 56-year-old actor is preparing to hear the sentence from the criminal court of Melun (Seine-et-Marne): five years in prison, three of which with a probationary suspension; obligation of care, obligation to exercise a professional activity, obligation to compensate the victims of the road accident it caused, cancellation of his driving license with a ban on renewing one for five years.
However, Pierre Palmade did not spend the night in prison. This is explained by the fact that the two years in prison are accompanied bya deposit warrant with deferred effect with provisional execution. This means that the actor will not be able to avoid prison, whether he appeals or not. But this measure allows him not to be incarcerated immediately at the end of the hearing. “The idea is to give convicted persons who have guarantees of representation a short period of time to organize themselves with a view to their detention,” deciphers a judicial source.
In the context of a deferred committal warrant with provisional execution, the date of incarceration must be set within a period of “four months” from the date of hearing. Pierre Palmade will therefore go to prison no later than March 20, 2025.
“Dwherever possible, we also read in the Code of Criminal Procedure, “the date of incarceration is determined taking into account the personal situation of the convicted person and, if applicable, the occupancy rate of the penitentiary establishment and its foreseeable evolution”.
The public prosecutor’s office in Bordeaux, the city where he now resides, announced Thursday that the actor would be summoned “within a month” to be informed of the terms of his incarceration. During this interview, Pierre Palmade will know the name and address of his penitentiary establishment, “as well as the date and time at which he must appear there”, specifies the prosecutor, Frédérique Porterie. “Once the person concerned is incarcerated, he will have the option of making a request for a reduced sentence.”
Several arrangements could be considered: home detention under electronic bracelet, semi-release regime, conditional release, etc. “During his examination, the sentence enforcement judge must take into account your material conditions of detention and the occupancy rate of the penitentiary establishment where you are incarcerated,” we read on the service-public.fr website.
The sentence also includes an obligation of care. Pierre Palmade, who today defines himself as totally abstinent, is currently followed in day hospital three times a week. He has also undertaken psychotherapy since September 2023. “For the moment, he is doing everything he can, he is putting all the chances on his side. Pierre has a lot of diligence”confirmed during the hearing his sponsor within the Narcotics Anonymous support group, where he goes regularly.
“The obligation to care does not necessarily mean that he must do more, specifies the same judicial source. To prove that he is already treating his drug addiction, Pierre Palmade will simply have to provide the documents to the prison integration and probation service (Spip).”
Finally, the conviction is accompanied by an obligation to exercise a professional activity. “Here again, he will have to prove that he has a job which may be the one he usually does (if there is no ban on this activity). But he can also change jobs if he wish”continues the judicial source.
On the stand, Wednesday, the comedian claimed to be “without work” since the accident he caused under the influence of drugs, on a road in Seine-et-Marne, in February 2023. The author of the “Scrabble” sketch, Who “can no longer go on stage”, lives on his “essentially copyright” : around 6,000 euros of monthly income.
Pierre Palmade has ten days to appeal. Even if this is the option chosen, he will not be able to escape incarceration while awaiting this second trial. For his part, Mourad Battikh, the lawyer for the civil parties, said “do not fear” a possible new hearing.
