Jean-Laurent Olivier

Background

Jean-Laurent Olivier was born in 1944 in the Aisne. He was abandoned very early by his mother and was placed with a nurse of the Assistance publique. At age 15, he was sent to work as a farm domestic at Montlevon.

The offence

On June 17, 1967, Olivier was working in the fields, driving his tractor, when he saw two children. The children were Pierrette Demarle, 12 years old, and her brother Lucien Demarle, 10 years old.

Olivier approached them. The brother and sister did not suspect him because they knew Jean-Laurent Olivier. Without knowing why, Olivier lost his temper for a few minutes.

The next activity differed between accounts in the narrative: one account describes the children playing until Olivier followed them, approached them, and asked Lucien to go to the tractor that was concealed by a small wood, then returned alone with Pierrette and later went back to his home only at night. Another sequence describes the Demarle neighbor and the children stopping by the field, after which their father drove away toward Lizy, and the children stayed and played while Olivier lost his temper and then approached them, followed by the same events of Olivier taking Pierrette by the hand and then returning to his tractor, with his return to home occurring at night.

In the conversation with Lucien, Olivier told him: "Où allez-vous?" "On va faire des courses au village"

After the children did not return, Gaston Demarle returned home at 19:00. His wife became concerned because the children were not with him and did not return. The village was alerted.

A neighbor said they saw the children near Olivier’s field. Olivier himself confirmed that he had seen them near the field and added that he had also seen “une 4L bleue garée dans le chemin menant au bois.”

That night, searches continued. On the next morning, about thirty meters from the road, in a grove, a farmer found the bodies of the Demarle children. Lucien had foam in his mouth and in his throat, with marks of strangulation on his body. Pierrette showed the same marks. It was found that Pierrette had been raped beforehand.

Investigation

The gendarmes investigated the case with the “histoire de la 4L” drawing their attention. Olivier was questioned and, after 48 hours, he broke and confessed.

Olivier admitted the crimes and said he did not know what had taken hold of him.

Psychiatrists found nothing abnormal. He was described as a brute whose horrific act was incomprehensible.

Trial

Olivier’s trial opened in September 1968 at Laon.

He was defended by Mes Foviaux and Rives. Me Libmann, who represented the civil party, said the crime was not that of someone demented and that no mitigating circumstances should be granted.

The prosecutor of the Republic, M. Vignaud, demanded the death penalty, recalling that rape and murder were punishable by the death penalty. Olivier faced the death penalty three times.

The testimony of Dr Roumajon, who examined Olivier’s electroencephalogram, said there were anomalies and that responsibility was mitigated.

Me Rives argued that Olivier’s abnormality should be considered. Me Foviaux argued against the supreme punishment and described it as archaic.

On September 27, 1968, after 45 minutes of deliberations, Jean-Laurent Olivier was found guilty without mitigating circumstances.

He filed an appeal to the Court of Cassation, which was refused in December.

Sentencing

Olivier was sentenced to death.

Appeals

His appeal to the Court of Cassation was refused in December.

Outcome

In the period after the refusal of his appeal, Olivier was transferred from the prison in Laon to the prison in Amiens while awaiting presidential clemency.

In March 1969, his lawyers were received by President Charles de Gaulle. Charles de Gaulle decided not to grant clemency a few months before leaving the presidency.

On March 11, 1969, execution by guillotine took place in the courtyard of the prison in Amiens. Olivier had been transferred there for his execution. He had been woken at 5:00 a.m., and thirty minutes later the guillotine was carried out.

A doctor, Sylvie Schaub, performed a cerebral tissue sampling on the head, which later confirmed that Olivier was not entirely responsible for his actions.

Jean-Laurent Olivier was the last condemned to death to be executed under President de Gaulle.

Aftermath

The narrative noted that Amiens had not seen an execution since June 22, 1957, when Kléber Delaire had been guillotined.