Defence asks top court to hear Cindy Gladue case

EDMONTON Defence lawyers are asking the country’s top court to weigh in on the case of an Ontario trucker accused of murdering an Indigenous woman.

Lawyers for Bradley Barton have filed an application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Barton was originally acquitted by a jury of first-degree murder in the death of Cindy Gladue.

The Alberta Court of Appeal ordered a new trial in June, ruling serious errors were made during the trial and the judge’s charge to the jury about Barton’s conduct and on the law of sexual assault relating to consent.

Gladue, a 36-year-old sex-trade worker, was found in a bathtub in an Edmonton motel room in 2011. She bled to death from a vaginal wound after a night of what Barton described as consensual, rough sex.

The appeal ruling was applauded by advocates who said they hoped it would change the way courts deal with Indigenous women and sexual offences.

In a news release Wednesday, the law firm of Dino Bottos said the Appeal Court made several serious mistakes, including changing the law “in dramatic fashion, imposing a raft of mandatory new jury instructions that previously were matters for the trial judge’s discretion.”

The firm said it wants the acquittal to stand and says the case is especially deserving of being heard by the Supreme Court.

“At all levels the case has generated an inordinate amount of media attention, stimulating nationwide discussion about the issues raised. Furthermore, the stakes of this appeal for the applicant could not be higher, as the case involves the reversal of an acquittal granted by a jury to a charge of firstdegree murder.”