A decision could be delivered as early as next week in Dennis Oland’s legal endeavour in the New Brunswick Court of Appeal to be acquitted of second-degree murder in the brutal slaying of his father, or, to have a new a new trial ordered.
Chief Justice of New Brunswick Ernest Drapeau is one of the three appeal court Justices who heard the arguments from both the defence and Crown at Oland’s murder conviction appeal and he says that the panel will make every effort to have a decision, and if at all possible, supporting reasons by this upcoming Monday at 11am.
The appeal spanned three days with much of it focused on Oland’s statement to police the day his father’s bludgeoned body was found. In that statement he said that he had been wearing a navy jacket the day before, when he was actually wearing the brown jacket — which was found to have blood stains on it — and how the jury might have interpreted that.
Defence lawyer Alan Gold says there’s a danger in this case for the jury to have reasoned in a circle:
“Of saying he lied because he was guilty, therefore the lie is evidence he’s guilty,” says Gold. “It’s not just this decision was left to [jury] it was they weren’t properly instructed on how to make that decision and that’s the fundamental mistake that was made.”
Crown prosecutor Kathryn Gregory has argued that even if the trial judge did make an error in his charge on post-offence conduct, it was a “harmless” one:
“The evidence in relation to the statement was not a crucial aspect of this case. It related to the colour of his jacket but it did not go to the ultimate question, it was simply a piece,” says Gregory.
“And the jury could well have found guilt without having considered, or even if they did consider this evidence in the way that the trial judge charged them.”
Drapeau: I think colleagues and I are struggling with issue of post offence conduct #Oland.
— Laura Lyall (@LauraLyall) October 20, 2016
Oland has been sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole for at least 10 years, after he was found guilty of second-degree murder by a jury late last year. Below you’ll find a recap of the day three proceedings:
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