A Quebec man has been found guilty of all charges in a 2023 truck attack in a rural community that killed three men and injured nine other people.
Steeve Gagnon learned his fate following two days of deliberations by the jury, who returned with unanimous verdicts Saturday night.
The 40-year-old was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder of nine other people in March 2023 in Amqui, about 350 kilometres northeast of Quebec City.
Quebec Superior Court Justice Louis Dionne immediately sentenced Gagnon to life in prison without possibility of parole for 25 years on the murder charges and 10 years for each of the attempted murder charges, to be served concurrently.
The Crown had argued the acts that led to the deaths were intentional and premeditated, saying Gagnon had formed and adapted a plan that resulted in pedestrians being run down on the road as he accelerated his truck onto the sidewalk.
The accused, meanwhile, had argued the deaths were an accident in a moment of inattention when he picked up an e-cigarette from the cab of his truck.
