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SAINT-JEROME, Que. — A former Quebec doctor who admitted to stabbing his two children to death has been granted bail.

A judge ruled this morning that Guy Turcotte should be freed pending his new first-degree murder trial next year.

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tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Guy Turcotte, who stabbed his two young children 46 times, will be set free while he awaits new murder trial Back to video

Turcotte is charged in the slayings of his children Olivier, 5, and Anne-Sophie, 3, at a rented family home north of Montreal in early 2009.

A jury found Turcotte not criminally responsible in 2011 and he was released from a psychiatric institution in December 2012. The Quebec Court of Appeal overturned the verdict last November, citing errors by the trial judge in his instructions to the jury.

The higher court ordered a new trial, leading to Turcotte’s re-arrest in late 2013.

Turcotte told the court during his bail hearing he should be freed because it is his right and that he could be of more use to society as a caregiver to some of his relatives instead of spending time in prison.