A ray of hope for a Quebec man claiming his innocence since 1992

Genevieve Beauchemin has more on a glimmer of hope for a Quebec man who was potentially wrongfully convicted 33 years ago.

Daniel Jolivet, 68, has spent nearly half his life in prison trying to prove he was wrongfully convicted. Now, he hopes a decision by the Justice Department will be key to a new life on the outside.

“After thirty-three years, it would be like me coming outside from another planet,” he told CTV News in a phone call from the prison where he is being held outside Montreal.

His lawyer, Nicholas St-Jacques with Quebec’s Innocence Project, received a letter late Thursday night written on behalf of the Minister of Justice Sean Fraser stating that Jolivet’s case will go to the investigation stage of criminal review.

“We recognize that there are reasonable grounds to conclude that a judicial error probably occurred,” reads the letter signed by attorney Nigel Marshman. “The request will proceed to the investigation step.”

St-Jacques says he will ask Quebec’s Superior Court to grant Jolivet bail while the case is under review.

“It could mean that in the next couple of days, or weeks, maybe, he could be released pending the final decision by the minister,” says St-Jacques.

Jolivet was convicted for a 1992 quadruple murder in Brossard on Montreal’s south shore. Two drug dealers, Francois Leblanc and Denis Lemieux, were gunned down along with two women who were at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Jolivet was a career criminal and knew both Leblanc and Lemieux. The evidence against him rested largely on the testimony of a former police officer turned criminal and then turned informant. St-Jacques says significant evidence that had not been disclosed at trial was uncovered years after Jolivet was convicted.

“There was a lot of information that wasn’t provided to Mr. Jolivet, and I could go on for hours about it,” says St-Jacques. “But I would say the most crucial, was that there was a lot of information that showed he wasn’t at a restaurant the day after the murder, where he would have confessed to the murders according to the collaborating witness.”

He says that information includes witness statements and call logs that were not handed over to Jolivet’s defence.

Jolivet made several applications to the Criminal Conviction Review Group over the past twenty years but was repeatedly turned down, but earlier this summer, Quebec’s Crown Prosecutor’s office looked into the case and concluded he may not have had a fair trial. St-Jacques sent that letter to the Justice Minister formally asking for a review.

The response dated Oct. 23 came within days.

St-Jacques reached out to Jolivet in prison late that night and heard from him early the next morning.

“It was 7:30 a.m., so they actually went to wake him up in his cell. He was half asleep not understanding why it was urgent to speak to me,” says St-Jacques.

“I told him, ‘What are you doing in the next couple of weeks? Maybe we could go to the Montreal Canadiens hockey game.’”

He says Jolivet was confused until he told him about the letter, and then he heard a silence before Jolivet cried.

“I was crying like a baby,” says Jolivet. “Anxiety, stress, and all that. I was tingling and shaking. I have been waiting for that decision since November 14, 1992.”

He knows this is the first step – it’s not a new trial and not vindication, but he says it is a ray of hope.