Quebec man convicted of four murders in 1994 may not have had fair trial, Crown says

MONTREAL — The lawyer for a Quebec man who was convicted of four murders in 1994 is pushing for a new trial for his client after the provincial Crown prosecutor’s office concluded a miscarriage of justice may have occurred.

Prosecutor Benoit Lauzon wrote to Daniel Jolivet’s lawyer in June to say there is reason to believe Jolivet’s lawyers didn’t receive all the evidence needed to defend him at trial.

“In short, we are of the opinion that there are reasonable grounds to conclude that Mr. Jolivet likely did not receive a fair and reasonable trial,” wrote Lauzon, who heads an office that reviews cases where a miscarriage of justice is alleged. “Certain undisclosed evidence is clearly relevant, and there is a reasonable possibility that the non-disclosure affected the outcome or overall fairness of the trial.”

Lauzon said he couldn’t conclude that Jolivet was “factually innocent,” but wrote that his “claim of a miscarriage of justice is not without merit.”

Jolivet was convicted of two counts of first degree murder and two counts of second degree murder in the November 1992 shooting deaths of two men and two women in Brossard, Que.

Evidence at trial hinged largely on the testimony of an informant, who said Jolivet had confessed to killing the four as part of a settling of scores related to drugs and stolen merchandise.

Jolivet succeeded in having the verdict overturned on appeal, successfully arguing the trial judge made an error in preventing the defence from raising to the jury that the Crown had not produced an important witness it had said would corroborate the informant’s story.

The conviction was reinstated by the Supreme Court of Canada in 2000 on the grounds that the judge’s error was not significant enough to affect the verdict or the trial’s fairness.

Nicholas St-Jacques of Projet Innocence Québec, which is representing Jolivet, said he’s speaking out about the letter in the hopes of pushing the federal justice minister to order a new trial for his client.

He said the words of the Quebec Crown, who prosecuted Jolivet in the first place, should be enough to successfully reopen the case.

“We think that now the minister doesn’t have any choice. He has to act upon all these opinions and do something, order a new trial,” he said in a phone interview. “And if there’s a new trial and Mr. Jolivet is guilty at the end of the process, so be it.”

St-Jacques said the minister’s department received the prosecutor’s letter in July, but has not responded.

Jolivet, who has been imprisoned since his arrest in late 1992, has always maintained his innocence. St-Jacques said his client was no “altar boy” and has acknowledged committing many crimes, but has consistently said he never murdered anyone — even when doing so could have helped him get parole.

St-Jacques said the case against his client raises many red flags. Those include doubts over the honesty of the informant on whom the case largely rests, who St-Jacques alleges was likely involved in the crime.

There is also a large amount of evidence that was never turned over to the defence, St-Jaques said, including evidence that Jolivet was not at the restaurant where his confession was reported to have taken place.

Jolivet has applied multiple times for a criminal conviction review, but has been denied.

The federal justice department said in a statement that “all people in Canada must have confidence in the justice system, knowing that it is there to protect them.” It said the responsibility for reviewing suspected miscarriages of justice rests with the criminal conviction review group (CCRG) within the justice department.

“The preliminary assessment decisions of the CCRG in Mr. Jolivet’s case are currently being challenged in the Federal Court, and the Attorney General of Canada is the Respondent in this case,” the department wrote. “As this matter is before the courts, we cannot provide further comment at this time.”

In its letter, the Quebec Crown wrote that it was surprised that the review group deemed the evidence against Jolivet to be “overwhelming,” despite the doubts surrounding the main witness.

In an emailed statement, the Quebec Crown prosecutor’s office wrote Wednesday that its actions were motivated by “the search for truth and justice.”

“We believe that even if the judicial process is over, we have an obligation to intervene when we believe that an accused person has not received a fair trial,” it said.

St-Jacques said that Jolivet initially felt hopeful after the Crown’s letter, but is now frustrated and disappointed that he’s still trying to prove his innocence after 33 years in prison.

“Just imagine every day thinking about that, trying to find a solution, gathering new pieces of evidence, talking with lawyers…he’s stuck in that spiral for all these years,” St-Jacques said. “And I think we’re going to be able to end that process only when he’s going to recover his freedom.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2025.

Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press