FREDERIC SERRE
The 1019 Report

A 44-year-old Vaudreuil-Dorion man who had a 2019 murder conviction overturned on appeal pleaded guilty last week before a new trial could even begin.

Richard Hunt entered the plea at the Salaberry-de-Valleyfield courthouse on Oct. 2, admitting he killed two bikers in a wooded area of Vaudreuil-Dorion in 2016.

In 2019, Hunt was convicted of the premeditated murders of Joseph Fluet and Steven Lamarsh, two Rock Machine bikers.

According to testimony presented at Hunt’s first trial, Fluet and Lamarsh were ambushed by Hunt and his girlfriend, Mélanie Binette, in a field in Vaudreuil-Dorion on Dec. 1, 2016. Hunt, who owed the two men money, had led them to believe that he would be able to pay them back, thanks to an $850,000 fortune buried in the wooded area following the theft of an armored truck.

Fluet and Lamarsh arrived at the scene armed only with shovels. But rather than participating in a treasure hunt, the two victims were shot by Hunt with a .223-caliber rifle. Hunt had been hiding waiting for them. He also shot the girlfriend of one of the victims. Rachel Wickenheiser survived and testified at Hunt’s first trial.

At the conclusion of his trial in 2019, Hunt was sentenced to life imprisonment. Now, under the terms of his plea, Hunt, who has been detained since his arrest in December 2016, will be eligible to apply for release in 2029.

While he will be eligible for parole, it will not be automatic, said Superior Court Judge André Vincent, who reminded Hunt that if he is released, he will be under the supervision of the Parole Board for the rest of his life.

Hunt’s accomplice, Binette, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in October 2020 and sentenced to 11 years in prison.