Crown submits new evidence that could postpone Jacques Delisle bail hearing

The bail hearing for former judge Jacques Delisle could be suspended, perhaps for several weeks, if Quebec Superior Justice Benoît Moulin admits a new piece of evidence submitted by the Crown.

Delisle, 81, is asking to be released from prison while the federal justice department has another look at his case in the death of his wife, Nicole Rainville.

As Crown prosecutor Michel Fortin started to present his evidence, he asked to introduce a new witness, Guillaume Arnet, a ballistics expert from the Laboratoire de sciences judiciaires et de médecine légale in Montreal.

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Fortin said Arnet has conducted tests that prove a gunshot to the head, when aimed at a 90-degree angle, would necessarily go through the skull on the opposite side.

This theory would crush the argument, which points to Rainville's suicide, that the defence has been trying to prove since the beginning of Delisle's bail hearing.

The defence's main witness, a forensic pathology expert from Ontario, testified that a perpendicular shot could ricochet off the skull and remain inside the brain.

Dr. Michael Shkrum said this is what he believes happened in the case of Nicole Rainville's death.

"The bullet went straight across, from the left to the right side of the skull," Shkrum testified Tuesday.

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Defence lawyer James Lockyer is applying for Delisle's release based on this new evidence, which was also submitted to the federal Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould for this rare ministerial review.

Lockyer objected that the videos shot by Arnet and his testimony be admitted as evidence. He maintains that he only received them on Monday and would need time to prepare a cross-examination.

"If I may, Mr. Delisle is an old man, like it or not, this bail hearing should not be delayed," said Lockyer.

Lockyer also said that the gun used by Arnet was not the same caliber gun as the one that killed Rainville.

The Crown told Moulin that not admitting these tests, which could prove the defence's theory wrong, would not be appropriate given the ministerial review Delisle is going through.

 "Not hearing this witness poses a risk of losing the public's trust in the judicial process," Fortin said.

Moulin said he would examine the evidence over the weekend and announce on Monday if this new witness will be heard.

Delisle will be back in the prisoner's box next Tuesday to hear the outcome. If the video is thrown out, the Crown will proceed with its other witnesses.

Otherwise Lockyer could ask to suspend the hearing in order to prepare his cross-examination.

Crown refutes expertise of pathologist

Earlier on Friday, the Crown prosecutor argued the defence's main witness doesn't have the expertise necessary to prove the former judge is innocent.

Fortin continued his cross-examination of Shkrum, on the fourth day of Delisle's hearing.

Earlier this week, Shkrum told the court he believes the gun that killed Rainville was shot at a 90-degree angle. This supports the theory of a suicide, which the defence has always maintained. 

The Crown is trying to discredit Shkrum's premise, claiming he has no expertise in ballistics evidence.

When questioned by Fortin, Shkrum also acknowledged the bullet path he is suggesting, from the left side to the right side of Rainville's head, did not exclude the possibility of a homicide.

The Crown said Shkrum shouldn't have given his opinion "coast-to-coast," on the CBC's the fifth estate, where the pathologist said he had a reasonable doubt Rainville's death could have been a suicide.