A man was convicted of murder 40 years ago. He might get a new trial

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The Crown is expected to decide next month whether it will seek a second trial for a man who was convicted four decades ago of two murders in Montreal but was possibly the victim of a miscarriage of justice.

In a case heard at the Montreal courthouse in 1983, Claude Paquin, who is now in his 80s, was convicted on two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Ronald Bourgouin and Sylvie Revah on June 26, 1978. The couple’s bodies were found in the Laurentians on Oct. 1, 1978. Three other men were convicted in the same case, but Paquin always maintained his innocence, even after losing an appeal in 1987.

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During the trial held in 1983, a jury was told that Bourgouin was killed because he did something that upset a gang of drug traffickers and Revah happened to be present when he was taken away to be killed.

In April, federal Justice Minister Arif Virani announced that he was ordering a new trial for Paquin under the conviction review provisions of the Criminal Code.

“The minister of justice has determined that there are reasonable grounds to conclude that a miscarriage of justice likely occurred. This determination is a result of the identification of new and significant information that was not submitted to the courts at the time of Mr. Paquin’s trial or appeal, calling into question the overall fairness of the process. The minister’s decision to order a new trial is not a decision about the guilt or innocence of Mr. Paquin. It is a decision to return the matter to the courts where the relevant legal issues may be determined according to the law,” Virani wrote in a statement five months ago.

On Wednesday, prosecutor Anne-Andrée Charette informed Superior Court Justice Lyne Décarie that two prosecutors are currently assessing the case and are expected to decide whether or not to proceed with a second trial. Charette said a decision is expected by the end of October.

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“Whether to proceed with a trial of not, that is the big question here,” the judge said during a hearing at the Montreal courthouse where she was setting schedules for several other murder cases with trials approaching. “It’s an important decision.”

Charette agreed and said a “final decision” is expected by the end of October. The judge agreed to set Nov. 6 as the next date in the case.

The “new and significant information” that Virani based his decision on reportedly involved Bernard Provençal, a notorious organized crime figure who became an informant during the early 1980s and testified in Paquin’s trial four decades ago. Provençal, the most important witness in the trial, alleged that Paquin plotted the murders with another man — who was convicted of conspiracy in the 1983 trial — and that the homicides were carried out in the basement of Paquin’s home in Rivière-des-Prairies.

Thirteen years later, Provençal recanted his testimony in an affidavit and said Paquin had nothing to do with the homicides.

Paquin was aided in his efforts by Projet Innocence Québec, a group based at Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) where law students work to help people who claim they were wrongfully convicted of a crime. In Paquin’s case, he was aided by Julie Harinen, a UQAM alumna who worked on the case while in law school and continued to do so after beginning her career as a defence lawyer.

pcherry@postmedia.com

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