All 3 MMA rail workers acquitted in Lac-Mgantic disaster trial

After nine days of deliberations, jurors have acquitted the three former Montreal, Maine and Atlantic (MMA) railway employees charged with criminal negligence causing death in the 2013 Lac-Mgantic rail disaster.

There was an audible gasp in the courtroom and family membersof one of the accused criedwhen the verdict was delivered early Friday afternoon at the Sherbrooke, Que., courthouse.

Locomotive engineer Tom Harding, 56, rail traffic controller Richard Labrie, 59, and operations manager Jean Dematre, 53, were all charged after the derailment of a runaway fuel train early on July 6, 2013. Several tankers, carrying highly volatile crude oilexploded, turning downtown Lac-Mgantic into an inferno and killing 47 people.

Through tears,Labriedescribed his relief. He said his thoughts were alwayswith and continue to be withthe community ofLac-Mgantic.

His voice cracked as he said he hoped the families of the victims received the answers they wanted through the trial.

"I wasn't intending to cry. But I can tell you it was difficult it was a long process."

"Mr. Harding is too moved I think by the situation to be able to give a coherent expression of what he feels inside," said Tom Walsh.

"But I know he feels terribly relieved and terribly thankful to the system, the jury system, to this jury in particular to have taken all the efforts that they took to really understand the situation and not just understand one point of view."

Lawyer Tom Walsh on Lac-Mgantic verdict

7 years ago

Duration 1:05

Lawyer Tom Walsh talks about his client, Tom Harding's reaction to being found not guilty in the Lac-Mgantic trial.

Crown prosecutor Jasmine Guillaume said she respects the jury's decisionand thather thoughts are with the victims' families.

"We respect the decision of the jury, although it was not the verdict we were looking for," she said.

"But theyhad an important role in this criminal trial, and the verdict is the result of the demanding andrigorouswork on their part."

Two othercases related to the rail disaster areunlikelyto proceedinthe Federal Court of Canada, following an agreement between the Crown and the defence.All parties are scheduled to meet at the Lac-Mgantic courthouse in February.

Marathon trial

After amarathon trial which began last September, the eight men and four women on the jury had been deliberating sinceJan. 11.

The jurors sat throughcountless hours of technical testimony fromtrain experts andhearddramatic audio recordings of emergency workers and railway employees from the night of the fiery, deadly blasts. They alsolistened toother former MMA employees, who were called as Crown witnesses and described a work environment they said hadlittle regard for safety standards and nobudget for training.

• Locomotive engineer Tom Harding was patient, safety-conscious, Lac-Mgantic trial hears
• Lac-Mgantic jury urged to 'use common sense' in deliberations in case against locomotive engineer

All threeaccused had waived their rights to mount a formal defence to thecharges and did not testify or call any witnesses.

In all, the prosecution called 31 witnesses to the stand to persuadethe jury the three men were each somewhat responsible for the fatal rail disaster.

The Crown argued they failed to carry out their responsibilities on the night when the locomotive barrelled down into Lac-Mgantic. Much of the Crown's caserevolved around the seven handbrakes Harding applied to the train, whether the engineer tested them and how many would have been sufficient to secure the train properly.

The defence for Harding countered thatsubstandard safety practices and one-person train crews at MMAled to a perfect storm that culminated in the disaster.

After being sequestered, the jury submitted three questions over the period of nine days. At one point, the jurors said they had reached an impasse but Quebec Superior Court Justice GatanDumas encouraged them to continue deliberating.

The jurysubmitted itsthird and final question on Friday morningbefore rendering theverdict a few hours later.

Dumas thanked jury members for theirwork, telling them that the case wasn't easy.

"You arethe most enthusiastic jury I have ever seen," he said.

'The book isn't finished'

The verdict has been met with relief from someresidents in Lac-Mgantic, including the current mayor, Julie Morin.

"The company, MMA, had a big role to play in this," saidMorin, who was not mayor back in 2013. "It's impossible that three men alone created what happened to us."

She addedthatdisaster could happen again given that trains still pass through the town. She said that risk will remain unless the tracks are moved outside of Lac-Mgantic.

"It doesn't change anything," she said. "The scars are still there. Today, we turn the page of a chapter, but the book isn't finished."

JeanClusiault, whosedaughter Kathy died in the explosion,praised the decision outside the courtroom.

"I felt relieved because these are not the right people who should be there," he said.

ClusiaultsaidHarding,DematreandLabriedidn't deserve to be blamed for the fatal raildisaster and explosion in downtownLac-Mgantic.

"These are human beingswith familieswho worked hard all their lives,"Clusiaultsaid.

"These aren't killers. We treated them like killers."

• 'It broke their lives':Lac-Mganticresidents support acquittals ofMMArail workers