The jury in the murder trial of John Boulachanis broke from the silence of its sequestered deliberation on Thursday by asking the presiding judge a series of questions.
The four questions, asked on one piece of paper sent to Superior Court Justice Michael Stober, touched on the details required to convict an accused of first-degree murder as opposed to a lesser charge of second-degree murder or manslaughter.
Boulachanis is charged with the first-degree murder of Robert Tanguay, a Rigaud man who was killed in August 1997. During his instructions to the jury, Stober informed the jury that they can find Boulachanis guilty of the lesser charges if they have doubts about whether the homicide was deliberate or intentional.
In one of the questions, the jury asked Stober to explain the difference between deliberate and intentional.
During the trial at the Gouin courthouse, the jury heard testimony from two men who were accomplices in the homicide. One of the men was able to plead guilty to manslaughter in 2003, and the other pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2014.
The jury began hearing evidence in the case on Oct. 6 and began its deliberation Wednesday morning.
