Former Quebec cardiologist Guy Turcotte has been granted conditional release pending his second murder trial for the 2009 stabbing deaths of his two children.
Turcotte - found not criminally responsible in his first trial in the deaths of Olivier, 5, and Anne-Sophie, 3 - made the request to be a free man before a judge at the courthouse in St-Jérôme, Que., last week.
'Of course this is not the conclusion that the Crown expected,' said Crown prosecutor René Verret outside the courtroom.
In rendering his decision, Judge André Vincent said he believed releasing Turcotte would not cause the public to lose faith in the justice system.
Turcotte is entitled to his right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty leading up to a murder trial in which the entire process will start from zero, Vincent argued.
'His conditional release does not mean that he is exonerated from the criminal charges he is facing,' he said.
Turcotte's release involves a number of conditions, including not communicating with or coming within 100 metres of ex-wife Gaston.
He will also have to respect a curfew, live at his uncle's home and continue his psychiatric therapy and medication regimen. Guy Turcotte 'a sadistic manipulator'
Patrick Gaston, the uncle of Turcotte's children with Isabelle Gaston, was at the courthouse on Friday, and was overcome by anger.
Gaston ranted about the unfairness of the conditional release while the cameras rolled just outside the courtroom.
He said the court prioritized Turcotte's rights over the rights of the victims and their family. He said his release was done to the detriment of him and the rest of the Gaston family.
'They've put me in prison by freeing him,' he said. He reminded reporters that Turcotte stabbed his children a total of 47 times.
'Guy Turcotte will always be a sadistic manipulator,' Gaston said before storming out of the courthouse.
Isabelle Gaston was not at the courthouse and said she would not comment on the court's decision. Turcotte was depressed while in custody
Turcotte testified he wanted to be released so that he could take care of his family and perform volunteer work at a food bank on Montreal's South Shore.
He also said that he was the victim of harassment and threats following his return behind bars, and that he had become depressed while in custody.
In September 2015, Turcotte's second trial on two counts of first-degree murder is set to begin.
Turcotte has been detained in the medical wing of the Rivière-des-Prairies detention centre since he was arrested - for a second time - in November 2013.
The ex-cardiologist was charged with first-degree murder in 2009.
Turcotte admitted to killing his children during his trial in 2011. A jury found him not criminally responsible because of a mental-health disorder.
Turcotte then spent 18 months at a Montreal psychiatric hospital, the Pinel Institute.
He was released from the institute in December 2012, but was rearrested in fall 2013 after the Crown appealed the jury decision and won a new trial. Decision 'doesn't make any sense'
Michel Surprenant, chairman of the Quebec-based Murdered or Missing Persons' Families' Association, said the court made an error in approving Turcotte's release.
'This doesn't make any sense. We can't accept that,' he said.
He agreed with the judge that, as it stands, Turcotte is not a danger to society or to his ex-wife.
'It's true that he doesn't present any danger right now, but if he is confronted with a type of stimulation that led to him to kill his two children before, no one is to say he wouldn't react the same way,' Surprenant said in French.
Canadian Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu of Quebec is the founding president of the Murdered or Missing Persons' Families' Association.
'I'm very disappointed with the decision because I think we just took care of the defence's point of view. We didn't take into account the family's point of view and the victim's point of view,' Boisvenu told CBC Radio One Homerun host Sue Smith.
Boisvenu said in cases like Turcotte's, where an accused has admitted to killing, the Criminal Code of Canada should be amended to make it tougher for conditional releases to be granted.
'When you kill someone and you want to be free again, the Criminal Code, I think , should be more tight than general cases where you are innocent until proven guilty.' Read the Turcotte decision here (French only)
Judge's decision on Guy Turcotte's release [French-only] (PDF)Judge's decision on Guy Turcotte's release [French-only] (Text)
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