Cop-Killers, Emotion, and Capital Punishment in Moncton, New Brunswick: The Ambrose and Hutchison Case, 1974–5
Abstract
Abstract
On 13 December 1974, Moncton policemen Corporal Aurèle Bourgeois and Constable Michael O’Leary were kidnapped and murdered, evoking an intense public response of grief and anger against the perpetrators. The funeral for the murdered men and the trial and conviction of Richard Ambrose and James Hutchison for the crime offers an example of how emotions evoked by sensational murders played an important role in the Canadian criminal justice system and debates on capital punishment. Examining the reactions of the police, political figures, and the media, as well as how sympathy was managed at the trial, demonstrates how certain laws aimed to regulate the emotions related to violent crime: accepting expressions of compassion and sadness, but not anger and vengeance. The murders also coincided with a majority federal Liberal government committed to changing the laws surrounding capital punishment. Even though the perpetrators elicited little public sympathy, their case was used as both an opportunity to champion hope and forgiveness in the cause of abolition and an example for retentionist calls for retribution and punishment. This article examines how the grief and anger of one community illustrated the criminal laws designed to regulate emotions in court and outside of it and intersected with the contemporary debates on abolition, highlighting the importance of the grief and anger of policemen and police associations in capital cases and in the debates over the death penalty.
Résumé
Le 13 décembre 1974, le caporal Aurèle Bourgeois et l’agent Michael O’Leary, de la police de Moncton, ont été enlevés et assassinés, ce qui a suscité dans la population une intense réaction de tristesse et de colère contre les auteurs de ces actes. Les funérailles des victimes ainsi que le procès et la condamnation de Richard Ambrose et de James Hutchison pour ce crime révèlent que les émotions provoquées par les meurtres à sensation ont joué un rôle important dans le système de justice pénale canadien et les débats sur la peine capitale. L’examen des réactions de la police, des personnalités politiques et des médias, et celui de la manière dont la sympathie a été gérée lors du procès, montre que certaines lois visaient à réguler les émotions relatives aux crimes violents, c’est-à-dire à accepter les expressions de compassion et de tristesse, mais pas la colère ni la vengeance. Ces meurtres se sont également produits sous un gouvernement fédéral libéral majoritaire, qui avait promis de modifier les lois relatives à la peine capitale. Même si les auteurs de ces crimes ont suscité peu de sympathie de la part du public, leur cas a été utilisé à la fois par les partisans de l’abolition pour défendre l’espoir et le pardon et par ceux en faveur du maintien pour réclamer la vengeance et le châtiment. Le présent article examine comment le chagrin et la colère d’une collectivité ont éclairé les lois pénales destinées à réguler les émotions devant la cour et à l’extérieur de celle-ci et se sont mêlés aux débats sur l’abolition. L’importance de la tristesse et de la colère des policiers et des associations de policiers dans les affaires menant à la peine capitale et dans les débats sur la peine de mort est ainsi mise en relief.
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Canadian Historical Review
Volume 101 • Number 3 • September 2020
Pages: 346 - 369
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Published ahead of print: 5 June 2020
Published online: 18 June 2020
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