Overview

• After nearly four weeks of hearings in Albi, defense lawyers Emmanuelle Franck and Alexandre Martin urged jurors to acquit Cédric Jubillar, arguing the dossier leaves reasonable doubt.
• Prosecutors Pierre Aurignac and Nicolas Ruff asked for a 30‑year sentence, relying on a convergence of indirect elements such as phone activity, broken glasses, podometry data and a neighbor’s account of screams.
• The defense attacked investigative shortcomings, citing a gendarme’s copy‑paste error in phone analysis, unprocessed or missing forensic work and insufficient checks on alternative suspects, while Jubillar again declared his innocence.
• Deliberations begin Friday with a verdict expected the same day, closing a trial held without a body, weapon or direct forensic proof.
• Separately, the trial of Dahbia Benkired over the 2022 killing of 12‑year‑old Lola opens Friday in Paris for one week, as France Télévisions apologized for an on‑air factual error and a Libération column about the case drew criticism.