By Canadian Press

Retired Quebec judge convicted of murder to remain in prison pending case review

Dec 21, 2016 | 9:00 AM

QUEBEC — A retired Quebec judge serving a life sentence after being convicted of murdering his wife will not be released from prison pending a federal review of his case, the Superior Court has ruled.

Jacques Delisle claims he was wrongly convicted due to a judicial error and wanted to be freed on bail during the review by the Justice Department.

Delisle was found guilty in 2012 of first-degree murder in the 2009 slaying of his wife, Nicole Rainville.

In his ruling Wednesday, Justice Benoit Moulin wrote that releasing the 81-year-old Delisle risked undermining the public’s confidence in the justice system.

“The public’s confidence in the administration of justice demands that Mr. Delisle continue to serve his sentence,” the ruling read.

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“A public, composed of reasonable people, well-informed about the law and of the circumstances of the case and who appreciate the foundations of our criminal justice system…wouldn’t accept his release at this stage of the procedures.”

Delisle’s conviction was upheld on appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear his case.

The Justice Department, however, decided in September to review his case due to new evidence.

Delisle’s lawyers argue new ballistics tests reveal the jury convicted their client on faulty evidence and they are requesting a second trial.

Moulin said the evidence he’s seen isn’t sufficient to authorize Delisle’s release.

“The analysis of expert opinions leads to the conclusion that at the very least, the pathological and ballistic evidence remains litigious,” he wrote. “Moreover, no expert excludes homicide.”

Delisle denied in a 2015 televised jailhouse interview that he killed Rainville and said he helped her take her own life by leaving a loaded gun for her to use.

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

The Canadian Press