Sask.'s highest court dismisses appeals in case of convicted toddler killer

Saskatchewan’s highest court has dismissed appeals in the case of a Regina man who was found guilty of smothering his former fiancee’s toddler son.

Jason Will was appealing his conviction for manslaughter in the July 2009 death of 18-month old Raime Myers. Will had argued the verdict was unreasonable and that the trial judge made several errors in terms of analyzing the evidence.

In a decision Monday, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal rejected those arguments and upheld Will’s conviction.

“I cannot say that the findings of fact and credibility which the trial judge made were in error such that the verdict was unreasonable,” Justice Ralph Ottenbreit wrote on behalf of the three-judge panel. “Mr. Will’s conviction appeal is accordingly dismissed.”

Both Will and the Crown also appealed his seven-year prison sentence for the crime. Will argued the trial judge made errors in sentencing, including interpreting his insistence of his innocence as a lack of remorse, and failing to account for the absence of a prior criminal record.

The Crown contended the sentence was “demonstrably unfit,” saying the judge failed to properly assess the gravity of the offence and Will’s moral culpability. The Crown had sought a nine- or 10-year prison sentence, while the defence asked for four to six years.

“I am satisfied that the sentencing judge made no error in principle nor did he fail to consider a relevant fact or overemphasize appropriate factors,” Ottenbreit wrote. “Given this, there is no basis to interfere with the trial judge’s exercise of discretion in imposing the sentence he did.”

The trial heard Will was playing video games while the toddler napped next to him in a bedroom of the house where he and his then-fiancée lived.

Will admitted to putting three fingers over the child’s mouth after he began screaming, but denied smothering or assaulting the young boy. He said he went back to playing his video game after the toddler stopped screaming.

Doctors noted the child had multiple bruises on his body when he arrived at hospital, where he later died. An autopsy determined he died of a brain injury caused by a lack of oxygen.

The trial judge found Will smothered the toddler out of anger or frustration until he was unconscious or incapacitated.