The discussions underway between the defense and the Crown and which aim to avoid holding the trial for the murder of Philippe Hébert are far from rejoicing relatives of the victim of a murder that occurred in December 2022 in the Acadian Peninsula.
The lawyers assigned to the case agreed to try to reach a settlement that would put an end to the legal proceedings initiated against the individual who is accused of the murder of journalist Réjean Hébert.
Philippe Hébert, who is originally from Saint-Simon, faces serious charges of unpremeditated murder and contempt of a human corpse.
A guilty verdict against the accused would automatically earn him a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of release before having served a minimum of 10 years of his sentence.
If the Crown and the defense come to an agreement, the most likely scenario would be for Philippe Hébert to plead guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter.
Under the Criminal Code, in certain situations where there is no use of a firearm during the commission of the offense, there is no minimum sentence imposed in cases of conviction for manslaughter guilty.
The accused has been in preventive detention since his arrest by the police on December 29, 2022, a few hours after the discovery of the body of the journalist and horticultural columnist who was lying in front of his residence in Saint-Simon.
Thus, if a judge of the Court of King’s Bench were to, for example, sentence Philippe Hébert to a three-year prison sentence, this would mean that the inmate would be released as soon as the sentence was pronounced if the principle of granting A credit of one and a half days for each day of detention is applied.
Angry loved ones
This prospect is extremely shocking to those close to Réjean Hébert who say they have little understanding of how the Crown could negotiate such an agreement with the defense involving a reduced charge.
“How can we turn this into manslaughter and say that it’s justice, ordeal? The prosecutor has no backbone,” said Guy Hébert, the brother of the victim of the tragedy that shook the Acadian Peninsula and the media world.
According to him, the Crown has solid evidence that would allow Philippe Hébert to be convicted of 2nd degree murder.
Still according to him, the Crown and the RCMP investigators failed to question several relatives of Réjean Hébert who would have things to say about the lifestyle of the victim and her alleged murderer and about incidents that occurred within the family in recent years.
“It seems that only Philippe’s version is taken into account in this affair,” laments the Caraquet entrepreneur.
A question of inheritance?
Guy Hébert is categorical: the idea of receiving an inheritance and freeing himself from an often conflicting family environment would have encouraged his nephew to commit the irreparable.
In a long interview given Tuesday to Acadie Nouvelle at the Bathurst courthouse, the victim’s brother also affirmed that the accused literally threw his parents into bankruptcy through certain actions, loans and his lifestyle, in addition to having ended his father’s life.
“Yes Réjean sometimes had his temper, but despite everything, he did everything to try to help this child. He showed no regret for what happened to his father, there would be something to write a novel about!” said Mr. Hébert.
The latter says he was the very first to put the family home in order after the terrible tragedy, work which he described as cleaning up a crime scene.
All the details surrounding the death revealed during the legal proceedings and by the family, some of which are most disturbing and macabre, are subject to a court-ordered non-publication order.
The Crown in this case is represented by Me Yannick Devost. The renowned lawyer Gilles Lemieux defends Philippe Hébert.
A defense lawyer who is not associated with the case indicated to Acadie Nouvelle that a negotiation between the parties and a possible reduction of the charges possibly testifies to a hidden card that would be in the hands of defense.
“It would, for example, be possible for the defense to invoke toxic psychosis during the event to justify the action, which could greatly help the accused’s case, even if psychiatric evaluations demonstrated that he was capable of undergo a trial,” said the lawyer who spoke to Acadie Nouvelle.
According to the latter, the idea of the Crown and considered by the family to reach an agreement with the accused in order to simply avoid a trial and save time and money is not plausible given the seriousness of the accusations.
The murder trial of Philippe Hébert is scheduled to begin on February 10, 2025 in the Court of King’s Bench in Bathurst, before judge and jury.
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