Trial postponed for weeks due to multiple disruptions.
Stalled trial drama for over a month, thanks to some unexpected hiccups, leaves the accused murderer Jacques Adonai Charpentier and his partner Melissa Estime suspended in court limbo. The murder trial, which began in mid-March, has been on an indefinite hold since mid-April, with no definitive date for resumption, shaking up the jury.
"We took a temporary pause," Judge Éliane B. Perreault addressed the jurors Monday morning at the Montreal courthouse. The trial, initially slated to wrap up at the end of April, might drag on until mid-June, leaving the jury on standby. Due to the new delays, two of the 14 jurors were excused.
According to the judge, delays in the case were inevitable and out of everyone's control. The media cannot disclose the content of the private hearings taking place without the presence of the jury.
Monday marked the first court session in three weeks, as the jurors returned to the courtroom. Judge Perreault informed the jurors that they should be prepared to sit until June 15 to conclude the trial. However, for the week, the jurors will not be summoned. Every Friday, the sheriff will notify them of the plans for the following week. A silver lining for the jurors: their daily allowance has been increased to $160 to account for the prolonged trial.
As per the Crown's theory, Charpentier, 41, and Estime, 24, allegedly devised a plot to track and kill Charpentier's ex-partner Odna Daudier with a GPS. On the night of May 28-29, 2022, Daudier was abducted while in her car, and her body was later found in an industrial area of eastern Montreal. The cause of her death remains undetermined.
Crown's evidence suggests that Estime traveled to the Dominican Republic to retrieve a mysterious substance from a bottle of Coke. The Crown believes this substance is an "undetectable poison." Several voice and text conversations between the accused are said to have taken place around the time of the trip.
Charpentier reportedly instructed Estime, via a voicemail, to avoid getting soaked in the rain while carrying the mysterious substance, as it should not be mixed with water. The intricate details of the poison or the exact nature of the substance remain undisclosed, with the trial proceedings still underway.
- The prolonged delay in Jacques Adonai Charpentier and Melissa Estime's murder trial, initially scheduled to end in April, has now pushed it into the realm of general news and crime-and-justice headlines, potentially extending until mid-June.
- Amid the ongoing court drama, justice in the Charpentier-Estime murder trial remains elusive as the jury awaits further instructions, their daily allowance having been increased to $160 to account for the prolonged trial, while the content of private hearings remains undisclosed due to jurisdictional restrictions.
