A medical expertise would conclude that the child carried by the passenger victim of the accident involving Pierre Palmade died before giving birth. This could lead to the dropping of the manslaughter charges currently against the comedian.
Towards a new twist in the Pierre Palmade affair? Le Parisien tells us this Thursday, September 21, 2023 that the child carried by the passenger victim of the serious road accident caused by Pierre Palmade on February 10 in Seine-et-Marne did not show any signs of life at birth . He would therefore have died before giving birth.
A medical report drawn up by a panel of experts was submitted to the courts on August 8, again according to the national media. And this new information could have a very concrete legal impact. It was in fact a debate on the criminal classification of the charges: if the unborn child, a little girl, had been born alive before dying, involuntary manslaughter could have been held against the 55-year-old comedian.
But if the baby dies before the emergency delivery, this can call everything into question. Indeed, according to French law, a fetus does not have legal personality. For now, Pierre Palmade is still indicted for “involuntary manslaughter”.
Le Parisien tells us that the medical expertise was carried out by a forensic doctor, a hospital pediatrician and a neonatologist, all three approved by the Court of Cassation. In their report, they estimated that the child was viable at birth, but he showed “no signs of extra-uterine life” after birth. According to these three experts, the child was “a victim of an in utero fetal death whose occurrence can be dated between 9:50 p.m. and 10:10 p.m.”, eight minutes before birth. The cause of death, however, would be linked to a “hemorrhage” caused directly by the accident.
It is now up to the judge to draw his conclusions from the medical expertise and whether or not to drop the charges of manslaughter. However, a second opinion may be requested. If the charges for “involuntary manslaughter” are dropped, Pierre Palmade would risk between 5 and 7 years in prison for the sole charge of “involuntary injuries” caused by the accident.
On February 10, 2023, Pierre Palmade was involved in a road accident which hit another vehicle and seriously injured three other people: the polytraumatized driver, his 6-year-old son and a pregnant woman, who lost her baby after the accident. . An 80-year-old man in a third car was also slightly injured.
The investigation revealed that Pierre Palmade was responsible for the accident and was driving under the influence of drugs at the time of the accident. He was indicted on February 27, 2023 for “homicide and involuntary injuries resulting in total incapacity for work of more than three months, by driver under the influence of narcotics”, for which he risked up to 10 years in prison. First placed in pre-trial detention, the comedian was released under judicial supervision on March 7, 2023 following a stroke, and made several stays in hospital, notably in the Bordeaux addiction department.
