A Sureté du Quebec officer who was found guilty of manslaughter in the shooting death of a teenaged boy in the Laurentians is now asking the judge in his case to recuse herself.
Sentencing proceedings were set to begin Thursday, but before they could the lawyer for Eric Deslauriers lawyer claimed Judge Joelle Roy was biased against police.
With dozens of Deslauriers’ colleagues in the courtroom to support him, defence lawyer Nadine Touma presented two statements that Roy made while she was a defence lawyer.
In one statement Roy once said victims of police shootings were “assassinated” and benefited from a parallel justice system.
Roy was furious when Touma presented her claims in court Thursday morning and called the allegations ridiculous.
"You're going too far,” she said. “You're getting too personal. What you're saying is useless and comical. It's outrageous. You're suggesting I have a bias," she said.
Roy immediately ordered a short recess.
The prosecution urged the judge to reject the motion, arguing that at no time during the trial the defence raised the issue of partiality by the judge
Deslauriers was convicted in September 2017 of killing 17-year-old David Lacour.
Lacour had been driving a stolen vehicle on Jan. 22, 2014 when officers tried to pull him over. Instead, Lacour led officers on a short chase that ended in the parking lot of a Ste. Adele high school.
At that point Deslauriers shot Lacour and he crashed into a snowbank. He later died.
In court Deslauriers testified that he only opened fire after Lacour had driven towards him, saying he feared for his life.
The judge will rule on the defence's request on Friday.
Deslauriers has already filed an appeal of his conviction.
