The fraud trial of former construction boss Tony Accurso came to a sudden and unexpected end Friday morning.
Superior Court judge James Brunton decided to halt the proceedings, after he determined that one of the jurors received some information earlier in the week about one of the Crown's key witnesses, engineer Marc Gendron.
The juror in question apparently relayed that information to other jurors, leading Judge Brunton to conclude the jury had been tainted.
Final arguments in the case concluded Thursday, and the judge was preparing to begin delivering his final arguments to the jury Friday morning.
Accurso was facing five charges, including conspiracy, fraud and breach of trust, in connection with an elaborate collusion scheme which saw Accurso benefit from city contracts from the city of Laval for years.
Accurso is not out of the woods yet. He returns to court on Jan. 7, at which time Judge Brunton will determine where the case goes from here.