Two people convicted of conspiracy to commit murder in Prince Albert last year are appealing their conviction.
Angela Nicholson and Curtis Vey were handed a three-year prison sentence on Sept. 2, 2016. On Friday, they were in a Regina courtroom trying to get that verdict overturned.
The defence attorneys had two main grounds for appeal. First, they argued the judge did not properly define the charge of conspiracy to the jury. They also said the judge took too long to instruct the jury that there needed to be intent to commit murder and an agreement between the pair to commit the crime.
“While the Crown said today that it wasn’t a complicated case, well the facts weren’t particularly complicated, but the law was,” said Nicholson’s lawyer Ron Piche outside of the Court of Appeal on Friday.
“Conspiracy is a complicated area of the law,” added Vey’s lawyer Aaron Fox. “We recognize that, but it is important, because the offence is so serious, that the judge gets the law correct in his instructions to the jury. In our submissions simply is that he did not.”
The Crown said the judge’s instructions were sufficient.
“The chief judge, I think, did a very good job of distilling the evidence for the jury and making the law of conspiracy very easy for them to understand, because it isn’t always easy to understand,” said Crown Prosecutor Bev Klatt.
The defence also questioned the integrity of the jury verdict.
Shortly after Vey and Nicholson were found guilty, the defence said a juror was overheard speaking to a court official and asking what he should do. The juror told the official he was concerned about the verdict. The defence argued it was the duty of the judge to inquire about the concerns.
“Especially when you’re dealing with a case like this, where two individuals are found guilty and sentenced to three years in jail,” Fox said. “It was important at the very least to make the inquiry and find out what it was about.”
A panel of judges will now consider the case. Vey and Nicholson are not in custody – and will remain free until the appeal is complete.
Based on a report by CTV Regina's Ashley Field
