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CTV News
10 hours ago
- CTV News
Lawyer for Quebec truck attack accused says pedestrian deaths were an accident
Steeve Gagnon is escorted by police into court in Amqui, Que., Tuesday, March 14, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot RIMOUSKI — The lawyer for a Quebec man charged with killing three people with his truck told a jury Wednesday the deaths were an accident. Court heard during final arguments that Steeve Gagnon reached down to grab an e-cigarette pod and accidentally drove off the road. Lawyer Hugo Caissy told jurors that Gagnon's story was "reckless, but not implausible" and that his client should be acquitted. Gagnon is charged with three counts of first-degree murder and the attempted murder of nine other people in March 2023 in Amqui, northeast of Quebec City. Caissy said the truck drove onto the sidewalk in five different spots, including two where no pedestrians were present. The lawyer told the jury that even if they conclude Gagnon acted deliberately, there is not enough evidence to show his act was premeditated. Court heard last week that Gagnon told a psychiatrist he dropped something in his truck cab and denied any intention of striking people. The psychiatrist said Gagnon recounted seeing the carnage and hearing people yell that he had struck pedestrians. He told the court Gagnon likely suffered from persecutory delusions for several years, but it wasn't a factor in March 2023. Gagnon's testimony during trial was marked by expletive-laden tirades against the prosecution, the judge and the jurors — so much so that he was ordered out of the room at times. Caissy addressed videos made by Gagnon in which he referred to the possibility of hitting children with his vehicle as "an expression of his delusional ideas," and said they could not be seen as evidence of premeditation. In his own final arguments, prosecutor Simon Blanchette rejected the accident theory, reminding the jury that at least two witnesses saw Gagnon's face behind the wheel and one reported he was smiling. Instead, Blanchette painted the accused as an angry and frustrated man who was jobless, unhappy with life and struggling with money problems and health issues. Gagnon's actions, he said, were intentional and premeditated. Blanchette replayed parts of the videos Gagnon made on his cellphone two days before, in which he described how he would run down dozens of children with his truck in three Amqui schools and then go wait at the police station. Gagnon drove to a schoolyard just before the fatal drive, Blanchette said, but it was empty since there were no classes that day. "He adapted his plan to the circumstances and he then put it into execution by hitting people on St-Benoît boulevard instead," the prosecutor said. Blanchette said Gagnon's actions echoed the plan he'd outlined in the video, including going to the police station after the fatal event. He also noted that Gagnon hit pedestrians in three separate spots. Gagnon, according to the prosecution, "developed a plan to take revenge on society." "He carried out this plan with the adaptations necessary to the circumstances and killed three people that day in a premeditated and deliberate manner, in addition to having attempted to kill nine others," Blanchette said. Superior Court Justice Louis Dionne will deliver instructions to the jury Thursday, after which they'll begin deliberations. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 18, 2025. — By Pierre Saint-Arnaud in Montreal The Canadian Press
CBC
12 hours ago
- CBC
Defence says deadly Amqui, Que., truck crash 'was an accident' — Crown says it was murder
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.
