Richard Bain murder trial: Testimony from toxicology wraps evidence from Crown, defence
Final witness testified Bain's blood showed no signs of drug he blames for influencing behaviour
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- Deliberations could begin Friday
- Jury will be back on Thursday to hear closing arguments
- Final witness, toxicologist Catherine Lavallée, finishes her testimony
Both sides have finished presenting evidence in the trial of Richard Bain for murder and other charges stemming from the 2012 Parti Québécois election-night shooting.
Quebec Superior Court Justice Guy Cournoyer told the jury on Tuesday – the 32nd day of the trial – that the Crown and the defence would present their closing arguments on Thursday.
Bain is accused of first-degree murder for shooting lighting technician Denis Blanchette, who was standing outside the PQ's election-night victory party on Sept. 4, 2012.
The prosecution contends that the shooting was deliberate and planned, while the defence is arguing Bain should not be held criminally responsible because he was psychotic and delusional.
- Accused Richard Bain says he has no memory of election-night shooting
- CBC's complete coverage of the trial
Toxicologist found no Cymbalta
The court has heard that Bain blames his actions on a drug called Cymbalta. In fact, he has said he has no memory of the shooting at all and no memory of a taped police interrogation the following morning.
In varying accounts of what happened that night, Bain has said he took between six and eight Cymbalta pills around 7 p.m. the night of the shooting.
In earlier testimony, defence psychiatrist Dr. Marie-Frédérique Allard, told the jury that Bain showed signs of an overdose during that interrogation early the next morning.
But this week a toxicologist told the court there was no presence of Cymbalta in Bain's blood, based on samples drawn at Montreal's Royal Victoria Hospital at 7:49 a.m. on Sept. 5, 2012.
Catherine Lavallée, a toxicologist called by the Crown as part of its rebuttal evidence, was the final witness of the trial.
Her analysis found no dangerous levels of any substance in Bain's blood.
Questions about toxicology screens
Lavallée said she found normal amounts of one antidepressant, Effexor, as well as an anti-inflammatory medication, plus trace amounts of an antidepressant called Tradozone.
But she found no presence of Cymbalta.
"The concentration in the bloodstream would've been quite high. And 13 hours later, I would have found some," she testified.
Defence lawyer Alan Guttman pointed out, however, that anything under a threshold of 50 nanograms would not have been detected by Lavallée's equipment.
She confirmed that was true.
One nanogram is one billionth of a gram.
The court heard that the therapeutic — or normal — levels for that particular antidepressant would range between 14 and 120 nanograms.
No history of Cymbalta causing blackouts?
Earlier in the trial, when Bain testified, he acknowledged it's possible he confused his pills that night and took Effexor rather than Cymbalta.
Either way, Lavallée said, there's no history of either of those two drugs causing blackouts or memory lapses such as what Bain described.
In cross-examination, Guttman suggested that Lavallée is not an expert in psychiatry and should not be commenting on the drugs' effects.
Lavallée agreed that the specifics of psychosis and dissociative states are outside her scope of expertise, but she said she had consulted scientific literature and journals about case histories.
The defence team is arguing that Bain should not be held criminally responsible for his acts because he was motivated by a psychotic delusion, stemming from an underlying bipolar disorder.
The defence's psychiatrist has said that while she believes Bain showed signs of intoxication the morning after the shooting, she does not think an overdose was the cause of his actions the previous night.