Closing arguments set to begin today at Lac-Megantic criminal-negligence trial
Posted Jan 3, 2018 2:00 am.
Last Updated Jan 3, 2018 6:37 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
SHERBROOKE, Que. – Closing arguments are scheduled to begin in Quebec today at the jury trial of three men charged with criminal negligence in the Lac-Megantic rail disaster that killed 47 people.
The proceedings in Sherbrooke are set to last three days.
On July 6, 2013, a runaway train carrying crude oil from the United States derailed in Lac-Megantic and exploded, killing the 47 and destroying part of the downtown core.
The Crown argued the locomotive weighing more than 10,000 tonnes was not properly secured, leaving it resting precariously on a slope 10 kilometres away from Lac-Megantic.
Tom Harding and former colleagues Richard Labrie and Jean Demaitre are each facing one count of criminal negligence causing the death of 47 people. They have all pleaded not guilty.
The defence called no witnesses at the trial.
