Overview

• Emilie Gutierrez, 33, is on trial in Ain on appeal for killing her 95-year-old grandfather by igniting his bed at her parents’ home in Saint-Laurent-de-Mure in August 2020.
• She faces life imprisonment if convicted after an October sentence of five years suspended prison with care obligations that prosecutors appealed, demanding a harsher term.
• Defense attorney Thibaud Claus argues she acted in a state of dissociation, suffering profound psychological distress to end her bedridden grandfather’s agony, which she described as an act of love.
• Prosecutors maintain the fire was a “cruel, selfish” act tied to personal frustration, citing expert testimony on her precise use of fuel accompanied by graphic autopsy photos.
• The verdict, expected June 25, comes as French lawmakers debate new end-of-life legislation, underscoring the case’s broader ethical and legal implications.