Quebec man acquitted of two first-degree murders 46 years later [Video]

Claude Paquin woke up Thursday as a free man for the first time in over 40 years after being acquitted of the 1978 first-degree murder of a couple.

“I lived through hell,” he told CTV News.

Paquin was sentenced to life in prison in 1983 and his appeal was unsuccessful. He spent 18 years behind bars, then couldn’t go further than 50 kilometers from his home for another 20 or so years.

Paquin stood trial with two other people who were also accused of first-degree murder, one of whom had the charge lessened to being an accessory after the fact.

On Wednesday, Quebec’s Crown prosecutor’s office declined to try him for a second time for the murders of Ronald Bourgouin and Sylvie Revah.

Paquin said he was innocent from the start and spent years trying to prove it.

Now 81, he said he’s “ready to start a new life” with his name wiped clean.

Case hinged on ‘questionable’ testimony

In 2008, when Paquin …