Doctor who killed his kids is out after less than 4 years

MONTREAL – A father who stabbed to death his children will be a free man, less than four years later.

Guy Turcotte has been granted his release from a psychiatric institution, with conditions.

The cardiologist had been found not criminally responsible for killing his two children and, since last year’s court verdict, he had been in Montreal’s Pinel institute.

His case provoked a torrent of outrage in Quebec, where Turcotte is a household name.

He had admitted to stabbing his young children 46 times.

But he said he didn’t remember doing it, hadn’t wanted to do it, and had been experiencing blackouts on the night of the killings.

He said he was distraught over the breakup of his marriage. His wife had left him for a family friend who was her personal trainer.

Turcotte’s release was unanimously approved today by a three-member panel. He will have to get annual mental-health checkups, continue his therapy, stay out of trouble and avoid all contact with his ex-wife.

His legal woes are not over yet: the Crown has filed to appeal the 2011 court verdict.

Several cases like Turcotte’s, including the 2008 bus-beheading in Manitoba and the Schoenborn child-killings in B.C., have prompted a federal policy change.

The Harper government plans to make it more difficult for mentally ill offenders found not criminally responsible to be released from custody.

The government announced proposed amendments to the Criminal Code last month, in the latest in a series of tough-on-crime initiatives by the Conservative government.

The Tories plan to introduce a bill in the House of Commons early next year that would make the safety of the public the paramount factor for review boards that determine an offender’s release.