Vampire of Paris: The story of Nico Claux

The Prosecution

Claux's sketch of Judge W. Waechter (Courtesy of Nico Claux)

Nico Claux's trial began on May 9, 1997, at the Cour d'Assises de Paris. The nine-member jury had already been chosen by presiding Judge W. Waechter. Claux's defense lawyer, Irène Terrel, entered a plea of not guilty. The prosecution's opening move was to shock the jury with grisly photographs of the crime scene and of Claux's apartment.

Palais, Courthouse (Courtesy of Nico Claux)

Claux: "The purpose of the photos was to make a parallel between the murder, and the environment where I lived -- the old 'Does fiction influence reality' debate?"

The prosecution charged that Nico had voluntarily killed Bissonnier, and they felt that he had acknowledged that it was premeditated. Following this, they presented the jury with a list of crimes Claux had committed during the act; theft of a check book; credit card; wallet; driving license; alarm clock, and an answering machine. Prosecutors implied that the items were stolen prior to the murder. The prosecution then pointed out the use of the forged license, and the forged check, which included the falsifying of Bissonnier's signature. While all of the above was damning in its own right, the case took a sudden turn when the prosecution attempted to establish that Bissonnier's murder was in fact one in a series, which had taken place in Paris during 1994.