A 17-year-old was sentenced on Thursday, March 13, to 12 years' imprisonment, plus seven years' probation, for killing his parents and setting fire to the family home during the night of November 26, 2023. The juvenile court in Bourgoin-Jallieu, near Lyon, composed of a juvenile judge and two non-magistrate assessors who are child professionals, went slightly below the 13 years requested in the morning by the prosecutor, the maximum Valentin, as he is identified, could have faced.

The psychiatrists who examined him had unanimously considered that his discernment was impaired at the time of the facts, as the teenager suffered from an autistic disorder associated with depression and psychotic symptoms. The prosecution accepted the assessment without debate. Altered discernment results in an automatic one-third reduction of the maximum sentence – 20 years – that can be handed down to a minor convicted of murder. "What does it cost to plan and execute both parents?" the prosecutor had asked. "This sentence has to mean something. You have no choice but to be realistic," she added, addressing the court.

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