The Court of Appeal overturned the guilty verdict of Carl Girouard, the perpetrator of the fatal sword attacks in Quebec City on Halloween night in 2020.
Girouard had been found guilty of first-degree murder and attempted murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 25 years.
In a decision made public on Tuesday, the Court of Appeal ordered a new trial.
The victims were chosen at random.
61-year-old Suzanne Clermont and 56-year-old François Duchesne were killed and five others were injured.
Girouard, a then 24-year-old man from Sainte-Thérèse – north of Montreal – was arrested immediately following the attacks
Related:
On May 20, 2022, after five days of deliberation, Girouard was convicted of first-degree murders of Clermont and Duchesne and five counts of attempted murder unanimously by jurors at the Quebec Superior Court.
He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 25 years in June 2022.
More details will follow.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
