Montreal-area mother accused of killing 2 daughters begins her third murder trial

A mother accused of killing her two daughters was back in court Wednesday for her third trial.

Twice, the Court of Appeal rejected Adele Sorella's convictions. Her ex-husband is a convicted felon with ties to the mob, and was murdered in prison.

Laval police discovered the bodies of eight-year-old Sabrina and nine-year-old Amanda De Vito 14 years ago inside the family home in Duvernay.

The cause of death was never formally established. The prosecution argued the two girls likely suffocated in a hyperbaric chamber used to treat juvenile arthritis.

A jury convicted Sorella of first-degree murder, but the conviction was overturned on a technicality by the Quebec Court of Appeal. She went back to trial, and, this time, was found guilty of second-degree murder.

However, the defence appealed it again and the Court of Appeal once again ordered a new trial.

Fourteen years after the deaths, the Crown repeated its case, this time in front of a judge alone instead of a jury.

"For the prosecution, we still believe that the only person who had the opportunity and the means to kill both girls is still Mrs. Sorella," said Crown prosecutor Marie-Claude Bourassa.

The Crown argued Sorella was suffering from depression, and carefully planned her daughters' murders, possibly in a moment of despair. The mental-health defence was originally rejected.

The defence also wants to argue that maybe a former enemy of her late ex-husband, convicted drug dealer Giuseppe De Vito, might be responsible for the deaths — a case it was not allowed to make in the previous trial.

Since the third trial focuses strictly on one element, both the prosecution and the defence agreed they would not be calling the same witnesses all over again.

"We are in front of a judge alone, so we'll plead both the case for the questions of law and then all the evidence that was filed in a previous trial," the Crown said.

Even if there are no witnesses called, the prosecution and the defence say it will take them at least a month-and-a-half to make their case to the judge.