Extract
[...] However, with the 151-day suspension during the Covid-19 period, the prescription is not ultimately acquired. In addition, following Jean DUCHENE's confessions on August the prosecutor opened a judicial investigation, particularly for violence. This is an interruptive act of prescription according to Article 9-2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Therefore, public action for violence will expire in 2029, since an interruptive act restarts the delay from the beginning. And this date is the possible one if the investigation stops in 2023. Thus, the facts of voluntary violence are not too old to be pursued. [...]
[...] A piano wire used to kill the victim was found. The search was conducted by a judicial police officer, with the presence of two witnesses. The problem is as follows: are the conditions of the search met for it to be regular? In accordance with Article 56 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, a home search is possible to search for evidence of an offense, without the owner's consent in flagrante delicto investigation. Article 57 of the Code of Criminal Procedure provides that the presence of the owner is required, or, in the event of impossibility, the representative of their choice, or failing that, two witnesses. [...]
[...] But the most likely is that Paul DUCHENE will exercise his civil action before the penal judge. Since public prosecution has already been triggered, he will probably constitute himself as a civil party during the hearing of judgment, as provided for in Article 418 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Thus, since Paul DUCHENE has suffered a personal and direct prejudice resulting from the murder of his mother, he can request compensation for his personal prejudice through the civil action, either before the penal judge or before the civil judge. [...]
[...] So, theoretically, custody can last up to 48 hours, so it can seem regular. However, Jean DUCHÊNE had previously been placed in custody for the same facts. As its duration is deducted from the new custody, the duration of the two measures cannot exceed 48 hours in total. The problem is that the duration of the first custody is not known. What is certain is that the second one lasts 35 hours, so, for the measures to be regular, the first one must not have exceeded 13 hours. [...]
[...] Are the conditions met? There are indeed reasons to believe that he committed a crime, as the gendarmes have a recording of his confessions. And murder is qualified as a crime by the Penal Code. The second condition is more complicated to determine if it is met, due to the vagueness of the facts. In fact, it is met if Jean DUCHENE had, for example, the intention to hide or flee abroad. But perhaps a free hearing would have been enough. [...]
