Marc-André Grenon, 49, automatically receives a life sentence.
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After 30 minutes of deliberations, the jury decided: Marc-André Grenon is guilty of the first degree murder of Guylaine Potvin which occurred in her Jonquière apartment in 2000.
The 49-year-old man receives an automatic life sentence with no possibility of parole for 25 years. He was also found guilty of sexually assaulting Guylaine Potvin.
The verdict came around 5 p.m. 15, Tuesday afternoon, after all 12 jurors unanimously agreed on the two counts facing Grenon. Dozens of people attended the verdict, including Guylaine Potvin's loved ones who had been waiting for this moment for 24 years.
Family members couldn't help but burst into tears after the guilty verdicts were announced.
Judge François Huot then asked Marc-André Grenon if he had anything to say to the victim's family, to which he replied no. The judge then addressed him directly.
You are a coward, you are cowardly, you are a coward.
A quote from Judge François Huot towards Marc-André Grenon
Marc-André Grenon stands trial
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Marc-André Grenon undergoes his trial
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I want to make this clear: I have nothing but disgust and contempt for the actions you took on April 28, 2000. You are an individual who is completely devoid of morality, you are a sexual depraved person and a murderer, bluntly said Judge François Huot, who thanked God that the parents of Guylaine Potvin lived long enough to witness the sentence inflicted on their daughter's murderer.
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An illustration of the judge François Huot who presides over the trial of Marc-André Grenon at the Chicoutimi courthouse.
The judge, still on in an icy tone, then attacked the defendant for the fact that he remained free for 22 years, without reporting to the police. He called the murder vile and despicable.
Twenty-two years of unjustified freedom is 8,202 days between the commission of your crime and your arrest by the Sûreté du Québec. What a pitiful example of courage! How did you manage to live with yourself, Grenon, during the last 22 years of your life? How do you still dare to hold the gaze of others today?
The assassin tried to speak during the magistrate's presentation, but the latter cut his intentions short.
For his part, the criminal and penal prosecutor, Pierre-Alexandre Bernard, believes that the decision rendered is synonymous with&# x27;hope for people looking for a missing or murdered loved one.
We hope today that this verdict carries a message of hope for anyone directly or indirectly involved in a case relating to the disappearance of a loved one, he said.
Me Bernard also wanted to highlight the courage of Guylaine Potvin's family and thanked the Sûreté du Québec investigators for their efforts which allowed the case to be resolved.
We hope today that this verdict can put some balm on their wounds and help them to be able to evolve in this long process of mourning for almost 24 years now.
The parents of Guylaine Potvin react to the guilty verdict against Marc-André Grenon.
On the night of April 27 to 28, 2000, Marc-André Grenon entered Guylaine Potvin's house while she was sleeping. The door to the basement apartment was unlocked. He attacked the 19-year-old while she was in her bed and her two roommates were away.
The disorder in the room, the sheets on the floor and the numerous injuries bear witness to the struggle and violence which marked the last moments of the victim's life. Marc-André Grenon sexually assaulted her and strangled her with his hands and a belt. It was strangulation that caused the death.
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Guylaine's room Potvin photographed on April 28, 2000.
It was Guylaine Potvin’s good friend, Audrey St-Pierre, who found her on April 28. The two special education students were supposed to present their session work that morning, but as Guylaine Potvin did not answer the phone, Audrey St-Pierre went to her house. It was there that she made the macabre discovery. The body of her friend was lying on her bed, almost completely naked.
Quickly, the police arrived on the scene and they noticed that they were dealing with a crime scene.
Various objects were seized in the room by Guylaine Potvin, including a belt and a half-empty box of condoms on which blood was found. Samples taken from the victim's body also made it possible to detect male DNA.
He will, however, have took 22 years to determine who the genetic profile belonged to.
Police officers have suspected several individuals over the years. They also compared the unknown DNA to that contained in databases, but they were unable to obtain conclusive comparisons allowing them to find the killer.
Science has made it possible to relaunch the investigation.
In 2022, the investigation was stalling. The forensic sciences and forensic medicine laboratory therefore proposed to include Guylaine Potvin's file in its project called PatronYme.
As part of this project, the laboratory created a database, pYste, containing thousands of public genetic profiles from genealogy sites to which people send a DNA sample to find their ancestors.
You should know that only men have a Y chromosome which is transmitted from a father to his son. Thus, all men in a paternal line have the same genetic profile Y. Traditionally, the family name is also transmitted from one generation to the next.
When the unknown DNA found on Guylaine Potvin and on her body was compared to the laboratory database, Grenon quickly emerged as a surname of priority interest.
The family name was therefore passed on to investigators. They targeted Marc-André Grenon since his name had already appeared during the investigation.
The investigators obtained the right, in August 2022, to follow the suspect.
Two police officers then followed Marc-André Grenon into a cinema in Granby. At the end of the film, they managed to seize, without his knowledge, a cup and two straws that he had used during the screening.
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One glass and two straws used by Marc-André Grenon were recovered from the trash can of a cinema.
Analyses made it possible to determine that Grenon's DNA matched that found at the crime scene.
An arrest warrant was issued and it was on October 12, 2022 that Grenon was arrested at his workplace in Granby. New blood tests confirmed that his genetic profile was the same as that found on the belt used to strangle Guylaine Potvin, on her body and on a box of condoms found in her room.
The trial of Marc-André Grenon opened on January 15 at the Chicoutimi courthouse.
Crown prosecutors Pierre-Alexandre Bernard and François Godin called 11 witnesses over the weeks.
For their part, Marc-André Grenon's lawyers, Vanessa Pharand and Karine Poliquin, did not present a defense. They admitted that their client had killed Guylaine Potvin, but wanted him to be found guilty of second degree murder. However, they failed to convince the jury.
Grenon is also accused of attempted murder and& #x27;sexual assault for events that occurred in the Quebec region.
Teilor Stone has been a reporter on the news desk since 2013. Before that she wrote about young adolescence and family dynamics for Styles and was the legal affairs correspondent for the Metro desk. Before joining Thesaxon , Teilor Stone worked as a staff writer at the Village Voice and a freelancer for Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, GQ and Mirabella. To get in touch, contact me through my teilor@nizhtimes.com 1-800-268-7116
