QUEBEC—Quebec’s former lieutenant-governor, Lise Thibault, will face a judge but no jury when her criminal fraud case finally comes to trial April 7, 2014.
The decision on whether to have a judge or a judge and jury was made Monday. Dates were set for her case, three-and-a-half years after Thibault was charged with fraud, falsification of documents and breach of confidence.
She is alleged to have misused $700,000 in public funds while serving as the Queen’s representative in Quebec from 1997 to 2007.
In a brief statement, the 73-year-old told reporters at the courthouse in Quebec City that she felt “liberated.” Her lawyer Marc Labelle explained that is because she will get a chance to tell her side of the story.
But a motion now before the Supreme Court of Canada could make the case moot. The Court will decide within the next two months whether it will hear a case to determine if Thibault’s has immunity from the charges, based on an arcane legal theory that the crown can do no wrong.
If the Supreme Court refuses to hear the case, the trial will proceed as a regular fraud trial, Labelle said.
In a separate civil case, the Quebec government is also suing Thibault for $92,000 for what it says was unjustified expenses.
