A jury trial involving a murder that dates back nearly two decades began at the Gouin courthouse on Thursday.
John Boulachanis in a 2006 photo.
John Boulachanis, 42, is charged with the first-degree murder of Robert Tanguay, who was killed in August 1997 in Rigaud. Boulachanis entered a not-guilty plea to the sole count he faces before the trial started.
On Sept. 14, 14 people were selected to be on the jury at the Montreal courthouse in Old Montreal. But the actual lengthy trial will be held at the Gouin courthouse in northern Montreal, which is located right next to the Montreal Detention Centre.
“Do not draw any conclusions from this (change in venue),” Superior Court Justice Michael Stober said in his opening remarks to the jury. “You have to put it aside.”
Two of the people who were selected for the jury in September asked to be excused from it before Stober made his opening remarks. One asked to be excused after being informed by the judge that the trial is expected to last until at least the end of November and that it could possibly stretch into December. The man had made plans to travel at the start of December. By the time Stober commenced his opening remarks, the jury had been pared down to a standard 12 members composed of six men and six women.
Joey Dubois, one of two prosecutors in the case, will make his opening statement to the jury Thursday afternoon.
