Free Practically Perfect by Dale Brawn Page A

the result of manslaughter or murder. The presiding judge had little doubt about which it was, and shared his conviction with jurors. He told them that they should not believe that Gauthier was shot with his own gun, since it was unthinkable that someone as demonstrative as the dead man could possess a revolver and not wave it around in front of others. On the other hand, they could accept as fact that Asselin had a gun on the evening in question.
    Jurors reached a verdict in a little over an hour. Once they made their decision known, court was adjourned for a few minutes to allow the presiding justice to prepare his sentencing remarks. Only one sentence was available to him. Although Asselin showed little emotion throughout his trial, as soon as he was returned to his cell to await the return of the judge, he collapsed. His guards quickly laid him on a bench, and summoned a doctor. After a lengthy delay, Mr. Justice Wilfrid Lazure formally postponed sentencing until the following morning, when Asselin was informed he was to hang on October 1. But he was not executed then, nor on January 14, 1949, March 25, or March 31. Asselin’s luck ran out when the Quebec Court of Appeal ruled there would be no more reprieves; the condemned man was to be executed on June 10. Just after midnight Asselin was hanged, and one half hour later he was declared dead.
    The deaths cells where condemned prisoners were held were small, utilitarian, and totally lacking in privacy. Twenty-four hours a day a member of the death watch sat outside the cell, keeping a written record of everything the prisoner said or did. The windows shown in this photo were covered when a death cell was occupied so that a prisoner would not know how quickly, or slowly, time passed.
Author’s photo.
    Roland Genest:
He Never Murdered a Woman He Didn’t Love
    They made quite a pair. Both were young, vivacious, and seemed to get fulfillment out a relationship that seemed equal parts love and violence. She was only twenty-one when she met the good looking twenty-five-year-old. By the time she realized he was married, the woman was deeply in love. So much so that when he suggested she kill his wife, she did not hesitate. For almost two years the pair got away with murder, and then he tired of her constant nagging. That’s when it all came to an end.
    Rita Genest was the first to die. She was just twenty-three, but in the opinion of her husband, she was no fun. A few months before Rita was beaten to death Roland Genest was on his own when he noticed a young woman riding by on a bicycle. They began to talk, and before long were dating. She was already in love when Genest told her that they would have to stop seeing each other — he was a married man. At his trial Genest said he forgot who brought up the subject, but he distinctly remembered that his lover volunteered to murder Rita. That way, she said, Roland would have an alibi, and he would be single again. In a matter of a few hours they decided to do it. Genest bought an iron bar, gave his co-conspirator a key to his apartment, and told her to set fire to the room when Rita was dead; which is exactly what she did.
    Rita Genest was murdered on May 21, 1951. The evening she died Rita and her husband went out to supper with her brother. After dropping her off at home, the men spent the rest of the evening drinking and gambling. About 11:00 p.m. neighbours noticed smoke coming from the Genest apartment and called the fire department. By the time fire fighters arrived, the bedroom was completely gutted. All that remained was a smouldering mattress and blood. Lots of it. Firefighters promptly called the police. About an hour after they arrived, Roland Genest drove up. When he was taken to police headquarters twenty minutes later his alibi paid off in spades. He was released after providing investigators with a satisfactory account of his whereabouts when the fire started.
    A coroner’s inquest was held on May 30, but soon