ST. JEROME, Quebec, July 5 (UPI) -- A Canadian doctor was found not criminally responsible Tuesday for the 2009 stabbing deaths of his two children because of his mental disorder.
A jury in St. Jerome, Quebec, arrived at that verdict on the sixth day of deliberations in the two-month trial of cardiologist Guy Turcotte, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported.
The panel rejected charges of first-degree murder, second-degree murder and manslaughter. Prosecutors had suggested Turcotte had been angry with his wife for cheating on him and killed the children to get back at her.
Turcotte had admitted he killed his daughter, Anne-Sophie, 3, and son, Olivier, 5, in February 2009. However, his attorneys contended he had mental issues and was unaware of what he was doing.
"For me, and I speak for myself alone, it's over. I will never return to a trial," said Isabelle Gaston, the children's mother who was estranged from Turcotte when the slayings occurred.
Gaston said she did not want prosecutors to appeal the verdict, the CBC said.
