Canada Journal – News of the World Articles and videos to bring you the biggest Canadian news stories from across the country every day
The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled not to reinstate the murder conviction for a man accused of killing a Winnipeg girl more than 30 years ago.
Mark Edward Grant was handed a life sentence in 2011 for the 1984 killing of 13-year-old Candace Derksen. But that conviction was overturned after Grant’s lawyer Saul Simmonds argued he wasn’t allowed to tell the jury about other evidence that may have pointed to a different killer.
Simmonds wanted to put forward information about another abduction with similar circumstances to Derksen’s. It happened nine months after the Derksen kidnapping, about three kilometres away. Physical evidence implied both abductions were done by the same person.
Grant was in custody at the time of the second abduction.
The trial judge blocked that evidence from being heard by the jury after the alleged victim failed to remember many details about what happened.
Simmonds also expressed concerns about the reliability of DNA evidence.
In their decision, the Supreme Court ruled the judge did make a mistake in not allowing that evidence to be heard and it could have impacted the jury’s verdict.
Manitoba Justice will now have to decide whether to order a new trial or drop the case against Grant.
Agencies/Canadajournal
