A Winnipeg man found guilty of bludgeoning his mother to death in her bed when he was 16 has been released on bail pending appeal and retained a lawyer instrumental in overturning several high-profile wrongful convictions.
The now-20-year-old was released from custody Thursday with the consent of the Crown, following a hearing before the Manitoba Court of Appeal.
He stood trial for first-degree murder in the March 2019 slaying, but was convicted by a jury in June 2022 of the lesser offence of second-degree murder.
A judge last month rejected a motion by the Crown to sentence the man as an adult and instead imposed the maximum youth sentence of seven years custody (three years of which are to be served under conditional supervision in the community).
Jury verdicts are rarely overturned and are generally given deference by appeal courts.
It was unclear Friday on what grounds the man is appealing his murder conviction.
A copy of the man’s notice of appeal was not provided Friday by the court for review by the Free Press, as it involves an accused convicted as a young offender.
Sources with knowledge of the case say the man has retained Toronto lawyer James Lockyer, founding director of Innocence Canada (formerly known as the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted).
Lockyer has been involved in overturning the murder convictions of David Milgaard, Kyle Unger, James Driskell, and Frank Ostrowski and others across the country, including Guy Paul Morin and Steven Truscott.
Lockyer did not return a phone call from a reporter late Friday afternoon.
The Free Press is not naming the 51-year-old victim, as it would identify her son, who cannot be named under terms of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
Jurors heard evidence at trial the victim, who shared custody of her son with her ex-husband, had been off work for several months due to a physical injury and mental health issues.
The night before the killing, the then-teen bought his mother flowers and made her dinner — all part of a ruse, prosecutors said, to divert attention from himself.
Prosecutors said the woman was already dead when her son left home at 9:08 a.m. to take their dog for an unscheduled visit to pet daycare and other errands meant to provide him with an alibi. The man returned home at 10:38 a.m. and five minutes later called 911.
Security video from neighbouring houses showed no one else leaving or entering the house during the teen’s absence.
The woman was struck at least a dozen times on the head, with possibly a crowbar. Her arms were broken as she tried in vain to fend off the attack.
After killing his mother, jurors were told, the son poured bleach over her head, cleaned himself up, disposed of the murder weapon and his bloody clothing, then went outside to change the air filter in his mother’s car. Over the next 90 minutes, he sent numerous texts to his mother’s cellphone and others, while running “errands.”
Thousands of text messages uncovered by police, a sampling of which was provided to jurors at trial, showed the woman was dependant on her son for cooking, shopping, cleaning and other chores, beginning when he was as young as 14, prosecutors said.
Jurors also heard testimony from the woman’s former co-worker, who police interviewed after the accused told investigators a man had been harassing his mother at work.
The victim filed a complaint against the man in May 2018, accusing him of “inappropriate behaviour” and “unwanted attention.”
Winnipeg Police Service Det. Sgt. Kenneth Lepage testified he interviewed the “person of interest,” and found his claims as to his whereabouts around the time of the killing were confirmed by electronic records showing his arrival and departure from work and a sign-in sheet showing he had dropped his children off at a YMCA location.
dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca
Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter
Someone once said a journalist is just a reporter in a good suit. Dean Pritchard doesn’t own a good suit. But he knows a good lawsuit.
Man convicted of mother's 2019 murder released on bail pending appeal - Winnipeg Free Press
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