Manslaughter sentence appealed

Joel Lawrence Clow says he thought joint sentencing recommendation was different

A P.E.I. man who was sentenced to 12 years in prison for manslaughter after he killed his girlfriend in 2015 has filed an appeal.

Last month, P.E.I. Supreme Court Justice Terri MacPherson sentenced Joel Lawrence Clow following a joint recommendation from the Crown and defence.

That sentence was on top of time Clow already spent in custody since his arrest in 2015.

Clow filed a notice of appeal on Aug. 23 from Springhill Institution in Nova Scotia where he is serving his sentence.

In his notice of appeal, Clow wrote that his lawyer and the Crown misled and took advantage of him.

Clow wrote that he was told the joint agreement was for 12 years minus time served. If he had known the deal was for more than 16 years, he wouldn’t have agreed, Clow said.

Clow was initially charged with the first-degree murder of Traci Lynn Lynch after she died of strangulation and a bluntforce blow to the head.

Although he pleaded not guilty, Clow admitted his actions caused her death.

During the trial, defence lawyer Joel Pink argued P.E.I. Supreme Court Justice Nancy Key should find Clow guilty of manslaughter because he didn’t have the necessary intent to kill Lynch for it to be considered murder.

Key found Clow guilty in July 2017 of second-degree murder and later sentenced him to life in prison with no chance of parole for 17 years.

Clow appealed that conviction and in a unanimous decision, the P.E.I. Court of Appeal granted him a new trial saying Key made several errors.

Legal aid director Kent Brown represented Clow on his appeal and during sentencing when the accused pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

During the sentencing, Brown and Crown attorney John Diamond made the joint recommendation, which MacPherson followed.

Details of the recommended sentence were given in court where Clow spoke but did not raise any objections.

Clow said in his notice of appeal of the latest sentence that he was misinformed about the joint agreement.

With the notice of appeal Clow included an application for an extension of time because it wasn’t filed within 30 days of his sentencing.

Clow wrote that he tried unsuccessfully to contact a lawyer but wasn’t able to because everyone he called was on holidays.

He also wrote that he will have to fill out an application with legal aid once he finds a lawyer to represent him.