Prosecution produces weapon in Proulx murder trial

Prosecutors at the murder trial of Francis Proulx showed jurors a gun on Monday that they allege may have been used to kill a Quebec political aide last year.

Proulx is charged with first-degree murder in connectionwith the death of Nancy Michaud. Her body was found in an abandoned house in May 2008, two days after she disappeared from her home in the village of Rivire-Ouelle in the Lower St. Lawrence region.

Michaud, 37, was an assistant to Natural Resources minister Claude Bchard at the time of her death.

On Monday, the Crown began presenting its case against Proulx in a courtroom in Quebec City.

Quebec provincial police technicians wearing blue plastic glovesshowed a gun and a bloodstained towel to the jury of nine women and three men.

Officer Christian Coulombe testified that police found the white-handled, .22 calibre revolver in a hangar near Michaud's home. Police found the towel, he said, in a cemetery also close to the victim's home.

Coulombe also told the court he found evidence that blood had been wiped off the back seat of Proulx's car, a 1998 Suzuki Swift.

Technician testifies about suspicious bag

Also on Monday, police technician Gatan Ringuette testified that lead fragments were found on the wall of Michaud's bedroom wall. Marks were also found on her bed sheets, he said.

Ringuette also gave detailed testimony about the contents of a plastic grocery bag that was found in a partly forested field in Rivire-Ouelle. The bag contained a letter addressed to Francis Proulx, as well as dozens of paper towels stained with human blood.

Proulx and Michaud grew up in the same community and lived around the corner from each other.

The trial is expected to last up to two months.