On April 4, 2017, police intervened at a residence in Paris following reports of a family being held captive. Upon entering, they interpellated the defendant, who was reciting verses from the Quran. Simultaneously, the body of Sarah Halimi was discovered; she had fallen from the balcony of an adjacent apartment. The investigation was opened for voluntary homicide and kidnapping. A subsequent charge noted that the acts were committed because of the victim's religion (antisemitism). Following an investigation and multiple psychiatric evaluations, the instruction judges—and later the Paris Court of Appeal—declared the defendant criminally irresponsible due to a mental disorder. The court found no contradiction in the lower court's ruling: one can recognize an antisemitic motive (the "trigger" of the violence) while still concluding that the perpetrator's mental state rendered him legally irresponsible for his actions. The defendant was not criminally liable for the murder.

l'article 122-1, alinéa 1er, du code pénal