Alain Perreault found guilty of 1st-degree murder
A jury has found Alain Perreault guilty of the murder of Lyne Massicotte in 2003.
Judge Richard Grenier has told Perreault he is not eligible for parole before June 2035.
Victim met her murderer online
Lyne Massicotte lived in Chambly and was a mother of two. In July 2003, she told her friend Manon Lessard she had met someone online.
Despite her friend's protests, she drove to Quebec City to meet him. Her sister, Francine, said it was the first time Lyne left for a trip on her own. "She was very organized, everything had to be planned out", she told the jury.
Once she arrived at Perreault's apartment, Massicotte called her friend to tell her the trip had gone well. She was never seen again, and her body was never found.
Manon Lessard and Francine Massicotte's testimonies were central to the crown's case.
They both called Perreault on the night of Massicotte's disappearance. Perreault gave them different accounts of her whereabouts, which changed again when he spoke with investigators.
Second trial, second conviction
It took the jury two days to come back with a guilty verdict. This is the second time Alain Perreault has been convicted of the murder of Lyne Massicotte.
In 2011, Perreault's lawyers appealed his verdict, arguing that a confession obtained during a "Mr. Big" police sting operation could not be admitted as evidence.
The Supreme Court of Canada ultimately ruled evidence secured during undercover police operations was valid, as long other elements of proof were presented and that clear directives were given to the jury before the start of the trial.
On the first day of Perreault's trial, Judge Richard Grenier did indeed tell the twelve jurors that Perreault should not be considered a murderer simply because he was willing to join an organized crime gang.
Disturbing evidence presented in court
Crown prosecutor Lyne Morais had several incriminating pieces of evidence to present to the jury. Her car was found abandoned in Old Quebec, on a street where Perreault often parked when in the area.
The driver's seat of the Pontiac Sunfire was pushed back and her tires were caked in mud. An expert testified that particular type mud can only be found on the shores of the St. Lawrence river.
Perreault's computer showed he went onto several disturbing websites before and after July 17, 2003. He consulted a chat room describing different rape scenarios.
Perreault then consulted articles of the criminal code which laid out the maximum sentences for rape, murder and defiling a corpse.
Lyne Morais's biggest asset however was a video confession, in which Perreault admits to strangling the 54-year-old woman, before trying, and failing, to have intercourse with her body.
Controversial video confession
Perreault was caught on tape describing the crime to who he thought were the heads of an organized-crime gang. The undercover police officers then asked Perreault to show them where he had dumped the body, on a small beach in Lévis.
"That's when I knew I had been swindled," said Perreault during his testimony.
His lawyer Stéphane Beaudoin tried convincing the jury that his client was innocent, and was merely the victim of a police vendetta.
Beaudoin argued investigators were meeting dead ends and were ready to peg the crime on Perreault at all costs.
Beaudoin also highlighted that undercover police operations are now more difficult to pull off, and more costly. While it cost $100,000 to make Perreault believe he was being welcomed into a fictional organized-crime gang, a similar operation today would cost more than $500,000.