Ex-Quebec judge challenging murder conviction to seek bail in hearing in October

QUEBEC — A retired Quebec judge convicted of first-degree murder will make an attempt next month to be freed from prison while the Federal Justice Department has another look at his case.

A bail hearing for Jacques Delisle will be held in Quebec City on Oct. 18 and 19.

The Crown has said it will oppose the release of Delisle, 81, who was found guilty of first-degree murder in 2012 in the slaying of his wife, Nicole Rainville, in November 2009.

Delisle is the only Canadian judge ever convicted of first-degree murder.

While his legal avenues have been exhausted, a spokesman for the Justice Department said this month that Delisle’s case will be subject to the investigation phase of the Criminal Conviction Review process due to new evidence.

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Innocence Canada, formerly known as Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted, has taken up the case and said Delisle was convicted on poor forensic evidence.

In 2015, Delisle said in a televised jailhouse interview he’d helped Rainville take her own life by leaving a loaded gun for her to use and denied killing her.

Following the federal probe, a final report will be given to the justice minister, who will have the final say on Delisle’s challenge.

In the interim, Delisle’s lawyers have sought his release.

The Canadian Press