The Danny LePrince Case: An Autopsy of Thirty Years of Miscarriage

to analyze. The case of Danny Leprince is exemplary. A copy of the construction of the miscarriage of justice. Also exemplary is the French justice’s vague regret that it shares the authority of res judicata and concerns that it has been misjudged. For almost thirty years.

Danny Leprince was sentenced in 1997 to life imprisonment with twenty-two years as a security sentence for the heinous crime of killing his brother Christian, his step-sister Brigitte and his two children with a chopper in September 1994 in Sartre. Nieces Sandra age 10 and Audrey age 6. Only little Soleni, 2 years old, locked in her room, escaped the massacre.

Martin, Danny Leprince’s wife, and one of his daughters, Celia, 15, claim they saw her brother killed with their own eyes. The defendant, after completing police custody, confessed to this one murder before recanting and has maintained his innocence since 1994.

His fate was quickly sealed: the Assize Court of Sarte, after a brief trial, sentenced him to the maximum sentence. His cassation appeal was rejected and the law of June 15, 2000 was before the appellate court.

“Instruction File Weaknesses”

Danny LePrince spent eighteen years in prison. He is now 65 years old and has just published a painful and terrifying testimony. They stole my life (Flammarion, 336 pages, 21 euros), with journalist Bernard Nicolas, who knows the case perfectly and does not doubt his innocence for a moment. He has solid reasons.

In 2006, the Court of Criminal Appeals agreed to hear the case. Not much happens for a year, and René, the mother of the Leprinces, who has regained hope, can’t take it anymore and hangs herself in her barn. A courageous magistrate, Martin Anzan, a former and powerful investigator, took the case. And after a three-year investigation, the instructional commission he chairs has no doubts.

He condemns, in 2010, “Investigation Weaknesses” And, we emphasize “There is no material evidence” Doesn’t outshine Danny LePrince. We did not find the slightest fingerprint or DNA trace of the convict at the scene of the crime, the slightest trace of blood on his clothes. The alleged crime weapon is suspicious and cannot be exploited. On the other hand, unknown DNA was found at the site – which is still there.

A confession was coerced

But Danny LePrince confessed: twenty-three lines in a twenty-page report, forty-six hours later to the police. He claims that his confession was extorted by the gendarmes: we will never know. The questions are not even recorded in the protocol, detention in criminal cases has been recorded only since 2007, and the lawyer has been present only since 2011.