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The jury in the murder trial of Véronique Manceaux was sequestered at the Montreal courthouse Tuesday without hearing key parts of the evidence gathered during the homicide investigation because Montreal police officers entered the garage of her home in Lachine without a search warrant.
A decision made by Superior Court Justice Daniel Royer, the presiding judge in the trial, before the jury was assembled, excluded key parts of evidence collected after Jimmy Méthot’s body was found inside a blue barrel in the garage. His body had been there for three days before the Montreal police received a vague tip, on Sept. 10, 2021, from a person who said that a body could be found in the garage of a home in Lachine.
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The Crown’s theory of the case is that Méthot was beaten and stabbed inside Manceaux’s home, on Sept. 7, 2021, by her and a minor, whose name cannot be published, and that she tried to cover up the crime by cleaning up for days. Méthot’s body remained inside the barrel in her garage while she and other people did the cleanup.
The jury heard evidence that Manceaux consumed crack before Méthot was killed and that she accused him of being a spy for her ex-boyfriend.
The tip was second-hand information relayed from a person who witnessed Méthot’s death. The police officer who received the call thought the tipster was drunk and initially did not take the woman seriously. The same officer was gradually convinced that someone should look into the claim.
According to Royer’s decision, the situation created confusion over whether there was an urgent need for the police to enter Manceaux’s home because someone’s life was potentially in danger.
A few hours after the call was made, police began surrounding Manceaux’s home on Rathwell St. Two officers headed to her backyard while another two were standing outside her garage and were told to look for signs that someone’s life might be in danger.
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Manceaux emerged from the garage unexpectedly and the two police officers grabbed her arms and arrested her. Royer determined the arrest was unconstitutional because, at that point, the police had no cause to do make it.
The judge also determined that, by extension, evidence gathered after Méthot’s body was discovered was inadmissible because the police had no warrant. That meant the jury did not get to hear evidence from a pathologist who examined Méthot’s body and other experts who examined the barrel.
Parts of Manceaux’s police interrogation were also declared inadmissible.
While the police seized Manceaux’s cell phone when she was arrested, Royer did allow evidence of text messages she sent to be seen by the jury. The judge ruled the contents of Manceaux’s phone were recovered after the Montreal police obtained a proper warrant.
On Tuesday, Royer completed his closing instructions to the jury before it was sequestered. Besides being charged with first-degree murder, Manceaux is also charged with causing an indignity to Méthot’s body and the judge summarized the evidence that potentially applies to that accusation. That evidence includes testimony from a witness who said Manceaux told her that someone had died inside her home and that she accompanied Manceaux when she bought the barrel from a neighbour.
While the cleanup was underway, Manceaux sent a text message to the minor saying: “We need a s–tload of baking soda and a s–load of vinegar,” in an apparent effort to destroy evidence.
In another text message, sent by Manceaux to Everette Roger Clayton, a man who pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact to murder last year, she wrote: “I could have transferred you money (to purchase products for the cleanup), but you seem to have trust issues. You can’t f–king help me when I’m trying to deal with a f–king body in my garage. You f–king suck.”
The judge also reminded the jury that a witness to the homicide said that, at one point in the attack, Manceaux threw a chicken pot pie at Méthot and told him “this might be your last meal.”
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