Victor Lazore Appears in Valleyfield Court For Sentencing

In August 2019, the 58-year-old victim was found by the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service (AMPS) officers on his sofa with a bullet in the head inside his house in the St. Regis village.

The assailant, Victor Jacobs Lazore, a 36-year-old from Akwesasne, appeared at the Salaberry-de-Valleyfield courthouse on Wednesday, June 21, for sentencing, Lazore was found guilty a week ago of premeditated murder of his cousin.

According to court documents, the accused did everything to escape Canadian justice.

It took complex extradition procedures to repatriate Victor Lazore, who had fled to the United States after the body of his cousin, Jeffrey Lazore-Arquette, was discovered.

Official requests, justified by the charge of premeditated murder filed against Victor Jacobs Lazore, were sent to American authorities in the Northern District of the State of New York, for his arrest. It took several months of waiting, from September 2019 to March 2020, for AMPS to obtain the repatriation of the accused.

The latter, Victor Jacobs was detained throughout this period in a penitentiary near Plattsburgh, New York. The guilty verdict, pronounced on June 14, represents the culmination of long-term work for AMPS.

The Mohawk police force, which has only 43 members, is responsible for conducting homicide investigations on its territory, unlike municipal police services, which are assisted by the Sûreté du Québec.

Sentencing will take place on a date to be determined, still at the Salaberry-de-Valleyfield courthouse.

Sentencing will take place at later date as a Gladue report has been requested. According to the Native Para-Judicial Services of Quebec, the objective of a Gladue report is to review the historical, systemic and individual factors that may have led to the accused's presence before the court and to propose, where applicable, a range of options adapted to the accused's needs. The Gladue report does not make a causal link between the crime and the factors it describes. This process is not intended to reduce prison sentences. Its goal is to determine a fair, appropriate sentence while paying particular attention to the circumstances of an Aboriginal offender and the actual options available that may increase the likelihood of dealing with the underlying causes for the crime in a comprehensive and fair way and, if possible, prevent re-offending.