Convicted killer’s appeal denied
Posted by Joe on April 24 2006 12:28 PM
A man convicted in 1999 of murdering Brenda Lee Anne Way in Dartmouth will not get a new trial.
Glen Eugene Assoun argued in the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal in January that his conviction should be overturned.
In a written decision released Thursday, his appeal was denied.
The partly-clad body of the 28-year-old prostitute and mother of two was found behind an apartment building on Albro Lake Road in Dartmouth on Nov. 12, 1995.
Extended News
A man convicted in 1999 of murdering Brenda Lee Anne Way in Dartmouth will not get a new trial.
Glen Eugene Assoun argued in the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal in January that his conviction should be overturned.
In a written decision released Thursday, his appeal was denied.
The partly-clad body of the 28-year-old prostitute and mother of two was found behind an apartment building on Albro Lake Road in Dartmouth on Nov. 12, 1995.
She had been stabbed and her throat was slashed.
Mr. Assoun, Ms. Way’s ex-boyfriend, was convicted by a jury of second-degree murder and sentenced to life.
In January, a lawyer for Mr. Assoun argued they had turned up fresh evidence in the case and suggested that serial killer Michael Wayne McGray, who at one time lived in Ms. Way’s neighbourhood, may have been responsible for her death.
But in the more than 100-page decision, Justices Jill Hamilton, Elizabeth Roscoe and Joel Fichaud refused to let Mr. Assoun introduce his new evidence.
They also ruled his trial had been fair, saying any legal errors the trial judge may have committed were "slight and insignificant."
"The improperly admitted irrelevant evidence was innocuous and could not have improperly influenced the verdict," the decision reads.
"We are confident that a new trial is not warranted."