He has three days to explain to the Assize Court of Seine-et-Marne, in Melun, what led him to stab one of his fellow prisoners.
This Friday, the trial of Randy C., 31, opens before the criminal jury, for attempted murder and escape by a convict on semi-release.
The accused faces thirty years of criminal imprisonment.
The case dates back to April 2, 2021, late in the afternoon, when emergency services were called to intervene at the Meaux-Chauconin penitentiary center.
Outside the New Concept Quarter (QNC), more precisely: one of the inmates of the semi-release center – aged 22 – has just been stabbed.
An altercation that same morning
If his vital prognosis appears to be serious at first, the young man - transported by helicopter to a Parisian hospital - will quickly be out of danger.
As for the author of the four stabbings, he disappeared.
The investigation was immediately entrusted to the Meaux Judicial Police.
Accompanied by his father, the accused will go himself to the Meaux police station the next day.
A verbal altercation between the two detainees, which occurred the same morning, is believed to be the cause of this tragedy.
But investigators had difficulty determining the exact words the two men exchanged.
Who provoked who?
The accused explained to the police that he was humming as he left the QNC, which would have annoyed the other detainee.
Triggering mutual insults at the time and a second altercation at the end of the afternoon, when returning to the semi-release center.
What could have pushed the accused – whose criminal record at the time included no less than 29 convictions – to stab the victim in the back and to the skull?
There is no doubt that the debates will focus in particular on the mental health of thirty-somethings.