10-year sentence for witness in Labossière murder case

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This article was published 30/03/2012 (5008 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The star witness in a Manitoba triple murder case who admitted to his role in the slayings will be eligible for parole in six years.

Jeremie Toupin was sentenced Friday after pleading guilty to three counts of second-degree murder. Fernand Labossière, his wife Rita and their son, Remi, were gunned down inside their St. Leon farmhouse in November 2005.

The residence was then set on fire in an attempt to make their deaths look like an accident or suicide and conceal evidence.

Queen’s Bench Justice Brenda Keyser accepted deal presented by Crown and defence lawyers in which Toupin was given a mandatory life sentence with the minimum parole eligibility of 10 years.

However, Toupin has been in custody since 2008, which is when the clock starts ticking on his sentence. That means he could apply for release as early as 2018.

There’s no guarantee he would get it, especially since he was involved in three killings. But in Canada, there is no provision to allow for the consecutive “stacking” of parole eligibility for multiple homicides.

Toupin, 26, previously struck a plea bargain in which the Crown agreed to drop first-degree murder charges – and the mandatory 25 year wait for parole eligibility that comes with it – in exchange for his testimony against two other accused. The Crown also agreed not to seek increased parole eligibility on the second-degree charges.

But only one of those two men ended up being found guilty. Jerome Labossière was convicted by a jury in February of three counts of first-degree murder against his elderly parents and brother, but Michel Hince was acquitted on all charges and set free.

Toupin testified at trial how Labossière hired him and Hince to carry out the execution-style attacks in exchange for $10,000. Several family members had told jurors how Labossière was angry with his brother for getting the farm instead of him and, in his mind, not managing it properly while frittering away his money on gambling. The family farm, worth $1.3 million, was $500,000 in debt at the time.

The jury verdict was puzzling to many legal observers, as jurors seemed to accept Toupin’s evidence against Labossière but completely disregarded what he said about Hince.

Toupin testified in graphic detail how he and Hince stormed into the farmhouse in the middle of the night and shot the three victims in separate areas of the home before spreading gasoline, igniting it and fleeing.

He described how Labossière orchestrated the entire attack and met with them several times to plan every detail out. The original plan was to just kill Remi, but that became more complicated when Toupin said they realized it would be difficult to kill Remi without being interrupted by, Fernand and Rita following a “scouting” mission one night to the farm where they all lived.

Toupin claims Labossière gave his blessing to kill all three. Toupin said Labossière provided two handguns, while Toupin and Hince bought other supplies such as ski masks and gasoline to burn the house down.

Toupin said he knew Labossière from the community and had helped him in a series of multi-kilogram cocaine deals. He believed helping Labossière with the killings would cause them to “go up” in the criminal world.

www.mikeoncrime.com