Defence says deadly Amqui, Que., truck crash 'was an accident' — Crown says it was murder

CBC

16 hours ago

Crown and defence lawyers presented very different versions of events during closing arguments Wednesday in the first-degree murder trial of Steeve Gagnon, accused of running down and killing three people with his pickup truck in Amqui, Que., in March 2023.
"It's possible this was an accident. This was a man with impulsive tendencies, who made an error. It was not premeditated," defence lawyer Hugo Caissy told jurors in his closing argument at the courthouse in Rimouski, Que.
The Crown offered a different version.
"Ask yourselves: is the theory of an accident credible? Or is it nebulous to the point of being incomprehensible?" Crown prosecutor Simon Blanchette countered during his closing statement.
Gagnon is facing three counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder using a motor vehicle.
He admits he was driving the vehicle that struck and killed three people and seriously injured three others.
In order to find Gagnon guilty of first-degree murder, jurors would have to find he intentionally ran down those people, and that he planned the crime in advance.
"Yes, he's responsible for the deaths and injuries," Caissy told jurors.
"But the analysis doesn't stop there. You have to be able to conclude that these actions were intentional."
Accident theory
Caissy said Gagnon was driving when he dropped something on the floor of his vehicle, reached down to pick it up, and then lost control of the vehicle and struck the pedestrians.
Gagnon testified that once he realized what happened, everything went fuzzy for him and he doesn't have a clear memory of what happened next.
Caissy said testimony from a psychiatric expert suggested Gagnon may have been suffering from a dissociative disorder that would prevent him from remembering details of the incident.
"The fact that he doesn't have precise memories doesn't mean he's not telling the truth," Caissy said.
Caissy also told jurors even if they conclude that Gagnon intentionally ran down the pedestrians, there's no evidence he planned the crime in advance.
He said expert psychiatric testimony showed that Gagnon was impulsive, which could explain his actions that day.
Caissy also referenced Gagnon's testimony in his own defense, which was often hard to follow and punctuated by outbursts, insults, profanity and threats.
"It's not because the accused is confused or lost at times that his version is not the right one," Caissy said.
Planned attack theory
During the prosecution's closing argument, Blanchette reminded jurors that Gagnon had lost his job as a trucker the year before the incident because of a back injury, that he was unable to find another job, and that he learned in the days before the accident that his social assistance benefits would not be renewed.
"Steeve Gagnon was living a difficult period. He made a plan to get revenge on society," Blanchette said.
Blanchette said that plan was made clear in a series of videos Gagnon recorded just two days before the crash, where he described running down children in a schoolyard with his truck.
Blanchette reminded jurors the day of the crash, Gagnon stopped at a schoolyard, but there were no students there because it was a pedagogical day.
Six minutes later, the first pedestrian was hit.
"I submit to you he planned to run down children, then adapted his plan when that wouldn't work," Blanchette said.
The defence argued the video did not constitute premeditation.
"That demonstrates nothing other than a person telling a story," Caissy said, noting Gagnon recorded many videos airing multiple grievances the same day.
Starting Thursday morning, Judge Louis Dionne will begin giving instructions to the jury.
Jurors will likely be sequestered later Thursday to begin their deliberations.
The three men killed were 65-year-old Gérald Charest, 73-year-old Jean Lafrenière and 41-year-old Simon-Guillaume Bourget.