Notorious Guy Turcotte case: New trial ordered

MONTREAL – Quebec’s Court of Appeal has ordered a new trial in the notorious case of Guy Turcotte.

Turcotte was the former physician who stabbed his two children to death as his marriage was falling apart.

But he was found not criminally responsible at his murder trial, when a jury accepted his argument that he could not recall the events and had experienced blackouts.

The case made Turcotte a household name in Quebec and the verdict provoked a torrent of outrage.

It was also one of several infamous cases that helped spur new federal legislation aimed at making it harder for those found not criminally responsible to gain their freedom.

The appeal court has now agreed that legal errors were committed in the original trial — including by the Superior Court judge who presided over it.