SAINT-JEROME, Que. — The defence has rested at the first-degree murder trial of Guy Turcotte.
Turcotte's lawyers declared their case complete today without calling any further witnesses.
The Crown began presenting the first of three expert rebuttal witnesses today as the trial of the former doctor charged in the 2009 stabbing deaths of his two children reaches its final stages.
Psychiatrist Pierre Bleau testified on the subject of adjustment disorders and told the jury one does not lose touch with reality or lose the ability to be responsible for their actions.
Bleau did not examine Turcotte or the evidence presented at the trial, but defence experts have testified that Turcotte was suffering from an adjustment disorder with signs of anxiety and depression.
Turcotte has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder in the slayings of his son, Olivier, 5, and his daughter Anne-Sophie, 3.
He has admitted to causing their deaths, but his lawyers argue the 43-year-old former cardiologist should be found not criminally responsible by way of mental disorder.
