Ugo Fredette, the man sentenced to 25 years in prison for committing two murders, will not get the new trial he sought.

The Supreme Court announced Thursday morning that it would not hear his appeal, confirming a decision rendered last December by a three-judge panel on the Quebec Court of Appeal.

On Sept. 14, 2017, Ugo Fredette killed his ex-wife, Véronique Barbe, 41, with a knife before fleeing with a six-year-old child.

He then beat Yvon Lacasse, 71, to death to steal his car and continue his escape with the child.

He was apprehended the next day in Ontario.

A jury found Fredette guilty of two counts of premeditated murder in October 2019 after a trial before Superior Court Judge Myriam Lachance.

However, Fredette's lawyer, Sylvain Comtois, argued before the Court of Appeal last September that Judge Lachance had erred in her instructions.

Lachance had instructed jurors that they had to be unanimous on the verdict to find the accused guilty, but they did not have to be unanimous on whether it was first or second-degree murder when it came to Barbe.

Comtois argued the jurors had to be unanimous on this to reach their verdict.

The Supreme Court rejected that argument.

The Court of Appeal decision, signed by Justice Patrick Healy, stated that "as long as the evidence is sufficient and the charges are sufficient, the law is 'indifferent' as to which definition was chosen by the jury."

Healy concluded that "the jury need not be unanimous on all the facts and every piece of evidence. In reaching its verdict, some members of the jury may rely on certain facts or evidence while others may rely on others," pointing out that "this principle has long been established."

Lachance had also sentenced Fredette to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 25 years, despite the Crown asking for a minimum of 50 years -- consecutive sentences of 25 years for each of the two murders.

In January 2020, Lachance decided in favour of 25 years because the Court of Appeal had just overturned a sentence of 40 years without possibility of parole imposed on Quebec City mosque killer Alexandre Bissonnette.

Last May, the Supreme Court confirmed that consecutive sentencing was unconstitutional and upheld the 25-year sentence imposed on Bissonnette.

That means in Fredette's case, the Crown was forced to abandon its quest for a 50-year prison sentence.

-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on June 16, 2022.