Emil Radita joins wife in appeal of conviction

CALGARY Following his wife’s lead from earlier in the week, Emil Radita filed his conviction appeal Friday in the first-degree murder conviction of their teenage son.

“The verdict was unreasonable,” reads his notice of appeal, filed at the Calgary office of the Alberta Court of Appeal.

“The trial judge erred in fact and in law by disregarding evidence and submissions of the defence,” he said, of arguments by his lawyer, Jim Lutz.

Radita, 60, was convicted last month in connection with the May 7, 2013, death of his 15-yearold son, Alexandru.

Justice Karen Horner ruled Radita and his wife, Rodica, 54, were both responsible for the teen’s starvation-related death.

The boy weighed a mere 37 pounds when he died of bacterial sepsis related to starvation.

In Rodica Radita’s notice of appeal, filed on her own behalf, the mother was far more critical of Horner’s decision, suggesting the Court of Queen’s Bench judge’s apparent emotion when handing down the verdict showed she was biased.

“The judge’s crying during my case (closing arguments and while reading her decision) demonstrates that she was bias,” she wrote.

“Saying that my arguments were ‘nonsensical’ when they were based on the actual evidence further shows her bias and inability to decide my case on the facts rather than on emotion.”

Horner ruled that the parents intentionally neglected the teen, who had Type 1 diabetes, for years, until he finally succumbed to his illness.

“Your actions in starving your son Alex to death are beyond comprehension,” Horner said, in ordering them to each serve a minimum 25 years without parole.

The couple showed no outward emotion as Horner found they had effectively planned and deliberated their son’s death by failing to get him life-saving medical attention.

Horner also said the boy was intentionally confined by his parents through his isolation, which would also make them guilty of first-degree murder.

“You persisted in ongoing conduct,” Horner said, addressing them directly. “You persisted until he was dead.”