The prosecution is convinced that it is facing an assassin in a white coat and intends to demonstrate this: the time has come for the prosecution's closing arguments in the trial of anesthetist Frédéric Péchier, on trial in Besançon for 30 poisonings, including 12 fatal ones.
After three months of debates, sometimes technical, often moving, and three days of pleadings during which some twenty lawyers laid bare the pain of the victims and the trauma of the caregivers, the floor is given to the public prosecutor.
Christine de Curraize and Thérèse Brunisso, the duo who are bringing the case, have two days to convince the six lay jurors and three professional judges of the guilt of the 53-year-old accused, who continues to proclaim his innocence.
During the debates, the two women and the defense agreed on only one point: a poisoner did indeed operate at the Saint-Vincent clinic in Besançon between 2008 and 2017.
After maintaining during the investigation that most cases were due to "medical errors" by his colleagues or to therapeutic mishaps, Frédéric Péchier admitted that among the 30 cases attributed to him, 12 were poisonings, five of which were fatal. But he reiterated: he was not the criminal in a white coat.
Throughout the hearings, the two public prosecutors tried to push him into a corner, but without success.
"Nobody saw me do it! This is a trial by jury, we need evidence!" Frédéric Péchier clumsily defended himself during his first interrogation.
– Uncertain motive –
The two women, described as "goddesses of the prosecution" by a lawyer for the civil parties, have mastered their case down to the last detail.
The victims? Patients aged 4 to 89. The scene of the crime? Two private clinics in Besançon. The weapon? Medication.
According to the prosecution, Frédéric Péchier contaminated infusion bags with potassium, local anesthetics, adrenaline or heparin, to cause cardiac arrest in patients being treated by other anesthesiologists and thus harm them indirectly.
During his exchanges with the prosecution, Frédéric Péchier strove to remain calm and impassive, even though his irritation occasionally surfaced. He even decided at one point to "remain silent" in protest against the conduct of the proceedings.
This strategy earned him a rebuke from Christine de Curraize, who criticized his "capricious little boy attitude."
"You always place yourself above others and above the law, Mr. Péchier," said the public prosecutor, who has been working on this case since the beginning of the investigation in January 2017.
Throughout the hearings, Dr. Péchier, himself the son of an anesthesiologist and a nurse anesthetist, remained steadfast, supported by his family. His sister, a lawyer, is part of his defense team.
For his lawyer, Randall Schwerdorffer, who will plead for acquittal starting Monday, the motive of revenge against colleagues for trivial reasons does not hold up.
"To get clear explanations about the act, the criminal must explain himself," argued Ms. de Curraize.
Standing beside him, his colleague Thérèse Brunisso acknowledged: "We are no longer expecting a confession."
The verdict is expected by December 19th.
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