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The Court of Appeal upheld a second-degree murder conviction and sentence, finding no errors in the trial judge's Corbett ruling, jury instructions, or application of Gladue principles.
The appellant was convicted of second-degree murder following a jury trial and sentenced to life imprisonment with parole ineligibility of 15 years and 9 months.
He appealed both conviction and sentence on multiple grounds, including challenges to the trial judge's Corbett application ruling regarding his criminal record, the adequacy of jury instructions on propensity reasoning and post-offence conduct, the sufficiency of corrective measures following inflammatory Crown closing arguments, and the application of Gladue principles in sentencing.
The Court of Appeal dismissed all grounds of appeal, finding no error in principle by the trial judge and upholding both the conviction and sentence.
The Court of Appeal upheld a manslaughter conviction and 15-year sentence for a husband who drugged his pregnant wife and allowed her to drown in a bathtub.
The appellant, Philip Grandine, appealed his conviction for manslaughter and his 15-year sentence in the drowning death of his wife, Karissa Grandine.
This was his second trial, the first conviction having been overturned.
The appeal raised three grounds against conviction: error in leaving a criminal negligence by omission theory of liability to the jury without evidentiary basis, error in refusing to exclude evidence based on issue estoppel (computer searches for "autopsy"), and inadequate jury instruction on the use of the appellant's out-of-court statements.
The appellant also argued the sentence was excessive and based on an unproven aggravating factor.
The Court of Appeal dismissed both the conviction and sentence appeals, finding sufficient evidentiary basis for the criminal negligence theory, no issue estoppel error, and adequate jury instructions.
The court also found the sentence was fit and reasonable, rejecting the "almost murder" characterization argument and the breach of trust argument.