Travis Vader’s lawyer says his defence team plans to take their appeal of Vander's manslaughter conviction to the Supreme Court of Canada after the Alberta Court of Appeal denied him a new trial.
On Friday, the Alberta Court of Appeal rejected Vader’s bid for a new trial after he appealed his conviction for the deaths of two St. Albert seniors, Lyle and Marie McCann.
Brian Beresh, Vader’s defence lawyer, said they plan on seeking leave from the Alberta Court of Appeal to take the case to the Supreme Court of Canada.
“We are all disappointed with the result but this is not the end of the road,” Beresh said.
“We think the issues were wrongly decided by the court of appeal. We think the issues we raised are of national importance and should be heard and determined by the highest court in this land.”
Bret McCann, Lyle and Marie's son, said he couldn’t sleep the night before the decision was released, thinking about how difficult a possible second trial could be.
“All of 2016 was that trial and the years leading up to that and I just didn’t want to go through that again,” McCann said.
Once the decision was released, McCann said he was very pleased with the “fabulous” result.
McCann said he hasn’t been able to think much about Vader’s plan to appeal to the Supreme Court.
“I will cross that bridge when, or if, it comes to that,” McCann said.
Right now, McCann said the family is focused on Vader’s future parole hearings. Their hope is Vader will acknowledge his guilt and tell them where Lyle and Marie's remains – which were never recovered – are.
“Vader, where are the bodies of my parents?” McCann asked.
Decision
The Alberta Court of Appeal released its decision Friday morning, unanimously agreeing to deny Vader another trial.
"We see no prejudice having befallen the appellant as a consequence of the trial judge's analysis, and no benefit in a retrial to test again whether the appellant should have been convicted of manslaughter," the court of appeal said in a written decision on Friday.
Vader was convicted of manslaughter in 2016 in the deaths of St. Albert's Lyle and Marie McCann.
Vader appealed his conviction on many grounds, including the unusual amount of time it took to deliver justice.
The criminal trial for the disappearance and death of the McCanns spanned six years and was finally wrapped up with a life sentence on Sept. 15, 2016. The defence team also claimed the trial took too long to deliver justice, noting the famous Jordan decision, which ruled cases should take 18 months in provincial court and 30 months in the higher courts, with some exceptions.
The appeal court’s decision noted it took 58 months from when Vader was charged to when he was sentenced, but said the delay was justified because of the “extraordinary” circumstances in the case.
“The complexity of this case, including the difficulties associated with prosecuting a murder trial 'without a body,' though not a full answer, was a significant factor in justifying the delay," the decision read.
"In conclusion, although the trial took substantially longer to complete than the 30-month presumptive ceiling, we think that in light of the extraordinary circumstances of this case, the delay was not unreasonable and that the appellant's submission must fail.”
The defence team also appealed the decision because of an error made when the judge used an unconstitutional section of the Criminal Code, section 230, and said the judge erred by declining to order a mistrial after improperly convicting Vader under the zombie law. Vader was first found guilty of second-degree murder under this unconstitutional section but the trial judge later convicted him of manslaughter.
“Based on the facts as he found them, the trial judge was ultimately correct in convicting the appellant of manslaughter,” the decision read.
The court of appeal found that the trial judge was not satisfied to find Vader guilty beyond a reasonable doubt that the killings were intentional, but that he was only prepared to find him guilty of causing the death of the McCanns.
“In conclusion, we see no prejudice having befallen the appellant as a consequence of the trial judge’s analysis, and no benefit in a retrial to test again whether the appellant should have been convicted of manslaughter, in the robbery killing of the McCanns.”
Beresh said they will seek leave from the Alberta Court of Appeal to have the case heard by the Supreme Court of Canada, adding it will likely be a minimum of six months before they hear anything from the superior court.
Vader is currently serving a life sentence in prison.
Beresh has also appealed the sentence imposed on Vader, but that appeal is currently pending and likely will not be decided on until they hear back from the Supreme Court of Canada.
The McCann couple was last seen filling their motorhome with gas in St. Albert on July 3, 2010, before setting off on a planned trip to visit with family and camp on the West Coast. Their burned motorhome was found near the Minnow Lake campground, southeast of Edson, two days later. Their bodies have never been recovered.
