Advertisement

Lise Thibault's lawyer argues for lighter sentence before Court of Appeal

Lise Thibault's lawyer argues for lighter sentence before Court of Appeal

The lawyer of former Quebec lieutenant-governor Lise Thibault tried to persuade the Quebec Court of Appeal today to let his client serve her 18-month sentence at home, while the Crown sought to stiffen her sentence to four years.

Thibault, 76, was sentenced last fall after she pleaded guilty to fraud and breach of trust charges in connection with expenses she claimed while in office.

- Lise Thibault, ex-Quebec lieutenant-governor, pleads guilty to 6 charges

After spending six nights at the Quebec Detention Centre, Thibault's request for an appeal was accepted, and she was released on $5,000 bail.

Thibault 'disgraced and crushed'

Thibault's lawyer, Marc Labelle, argued that Quebec Court Judge Carol St-Cyr erred in sending Thibault to jail to dissuade others from committing fraud and breach of trust.

Labelle said St-Cyr got 'stuck' in that argument and ignored the option of having his client, who is confined to a wheelchair, serve her sentence at home.

The judge had said that the 76-year-old already lived alone and such a sentence would not have any impact.

Labelle argued that Thibault was humiliated and ridiculed as result of the extensive media coverage of her trial, and that treatment should be considered part of her punishment.

"It was addressed to humiliate her: You've seen the front pages. When the first page of a newspaper is more concerned with the fact that we paid for underwear than the balance of what happened in the courtroom during the whole day, that's what I mean," Labelle said.

In an exhibit obtained by Radio-Canada, Labelle wrote, "We cannot ignore that in this case, the coverage was clearly exaggerated, biased."

He said that the public attention of the case "disgraced and crushed the accused."

Allegations of misspending first came to light at the end of Thibault's term in office, after a Quebec auditor's report challenged $711,200 of expenses, including housing and meals already paid for by the province.​

She pleaded guilty to fraud and breach of trust but not to forgery.

Besides being sentenced to 18 months in jail, the judge ordered Thibault to repay the government $300,000.

Crown wants 4 years

The Crown's argued before the Court of Appeal for a harsher sentence.

At the trial, the prosecution said she should go to prison for four years for committing fraud while in a position of public trust.

But the judge ruled that Thibault did not engage in a sophisticated fraud scheme.

The Crown argued that an organized scheme was not necessary "because of her status ... and the trust placed in her." It also added that since she showed "mixed" feelings of remorse, it will ask the Court of Appeal to impose a four-year sentence in prison "in the name of deterrence and respect for our government institutions and their credibility."

On Friday, Crown prosecutor Marcel Guimont argued the trial judge was right to send her to jail to send a message because Thibault was the "top civil servant" in the province of Quebec.

"All those years, for 10 years, [Thibault was someone] in whom the whole population of Canada trusted," he said.

Thibault was not present at the hearing.