A prosecutor for the Crown, who is accused of being unfit to drive and hit and run, was unable to get a stay of the proceedings on Wednesday. After an accident, the prosecutor barricaded herself for five hours while her apartment was surrounded by the police.
Posted at 6:00 p.m
Me Alice Bourbonnais-Rougeau, prosecutor of the Serious Crimes Office at the Director of Law Enforcement and Law Enforcement (DPCP), worked in particular on the corruption file of the former mayor of Terrebonne Jean-Marc Robitaille. By ordering the end of the trial in October 2021, the judge had skinned the prosecutor for her “misleading statements” in court.
A few months earlier, the 30-year-old lawyer had been charged in Montreal City Court on three counts: unfit to drive, hit and run and excessive alcohol consumption.
Since then, she has attempted to have the charges dropped through numerous requests. On Wednesday, Judge Gabriel Boutros dismissed most of the defense claims but found two violations of the defendant’s rights.
On the evening of April 24, 2021, a neighbor witnessed Alice Bourbonnais-Rougeau’s SUV crash into her vehicle as she tried with great difficulty to park. The neighbor notices that the accused has glassy eyes and speaks slowly. She offers him her business card, but he declines and calls 911.
Alice Bourbonnais-Rougeau then “escapes” home, where she hides for five hours while waiting for the police to issue a warrant for her arrest. Contrary to her assertion, the accused was not illegally detained at home, the judge concluded. “She is the architect of her own misery,” he says.
“There is little difference between the complainant’s situation and that of a suspect who runs away when the police try to arrest him. […] She is trying to use her residence as a place of refuge to escape legitimate persecution,” Judge Boutros said.
Privileged Status and Abusive Search
When talking to the accused through the window, the police smelled the odor of alcohol emanating from her. According to a police officer, the accused says she is a Crown Prosecutor and “knows the investigators she will be calling”. He is then seen walking through his apartment with a bottle of wine in hand.
“It’s a privileged status she’s trying to use to put herself out of reach of agents,” Justice Boutros said.
However, the judge concludes that officers from the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) committed an inappropriate search by peering into his apartment with their flashlight. However, these “willful and unacceptable” acts are not serious enough to result in a standstill in court proceedings.
Police also violated Alice Bourbonnais-Rougeau’s right to legal counsel by ending the conversation with her lawyer after 27 minutes. A sergeant accused the accused of having acted “obviously hesitantly” in extending their appeal.
“Apart from their impatience, the police had no reason to end the call,” the judge concluded.
The defendant’s breath sample was therefore excluded from the hearing of evidence, which entails the risk that the allegation that she had more than the legal blood alcohol limit in her blood will be dropped.
The process will continue next April.