How a Montreal murder trial pulled a hit Netflix series into the courtroom.
A 24-year-old artist, Romane Bonnier, was murdered in broad daylight near McGill University. Her killer, François Pelletier, didn’t just confess — he wrapped the crime in a bizarre pop-culture narrative, calling himself the “Chief antagonist of the Black Mirror Society” and naming his plan “Operation Wrath of Heaven.”
And in one of the strangest twists in Canadian legal history, the jury asked to watch an actual episode of Black Mirror during deliberations.
This episode unpacks how a toxic breakup turned into a premeditated killing, why prosecutors fought over Pelletier’s mental state, and how an episode of a sci-fi cult classic unexpectedly ended up in front of a jury deciding a real life-and-death verdict.
Credits:
This episode of “The Prime Detective” was produced and hosted by Grayson Thagard.
Music for “The Prime Detective” is composed by Ben Wise: https://benwise.bandcamp.com/
Website and publishing support thanks to David Moody, Producer: “Let’s Talk About Treks” The Podcast.
Artwork for “The Prime Detective” is by Julie Hendrickson.
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