Ex-judge Jacques Delisle's lawyer says new evidence can prove miscarriage of justice

The lawyer for ex-judge Jacques Delisle, who isserving a life sentence since 2012 for the first-degree murder of his wife, has askedFederal Justice MinisterJodyWilson-Raybouldtoorder an official investigation into the case in the wake of new evidence.

Delisle was convicted for the shooting deathof his wife, Nicole Rainville, after shewas found in theirQuebec City home lying on the couch with a bullet in her head on Nov. 12, 2009.

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JamesLockyer, the Toronto lawyer who has helped exonerate more than 20 people wrongly convicted of serious crimes, says a new autopsy report shows the gun was pointed at an angle that isconsistent with suicide.

Lockyerfiled an application for a ministerial review of Delisle's conviction 15 months ago, when Peter MacKay was still federal justice minister.

Lockyersaidthis new evidence should convince the minister there has been a"likely miscarriage of justice."

"It seems to me that we now have a case of a man sitting in jail for a crime he didn't commit,"Lockyersaid.

This request for a ministerial review is the final recourse forDelisle, who has maintained his innocence since his wife's death.

Convicted prisoners in Canada who have lost all their legal appeals are allowed by law to ask the government to reopen the case by making a direct appeal to the federal justice minister.

• JacquesDelisle, ex-judge convicted of wife's murder, says he didn't do it

IfRaybould-Wilsonfinds there was enough evidence to grant an investigation, thenLockyercould request bail forDelislepending the result of the review.

If successful, Delisle's case could be sent back to the Quebec Court of Appeal or a new trial could be set.

In an interview from behind bars with CBC'sthefifthestate in 2015,Delisle said thatwhen he was on trial, he hid from the court his real role in his disabled wife's death helping hercommit suicide.

The former Quebec Court of Appeal justicesaid he left a loaded gun for his wife to take her own life in November 2009 and tried to talk her out of it, but that he didn't kill her.

During the 2012 trial, the defence argued Rainville had taken her own life several years after a stroke that left her partially paralyzed.

Rainville had repeatedly mentioned taking her own life, according to Delisle and other family members.