Social issues not grounds for appeal: Gerein
In a rare public address to explain why no appeal would be sought, Assistant Deputy Attorney General Anthony Gerein said there could be no appeal because there had been no error in law — and he invited those who thought differently to contact the province.
“It appears there have been some calls for an appeal simply because of the particular verdict or wishing to send a message about inclusiveness. The Criminal Code does not allow an appeal for such reasons. The question at the trial was whether or not the jury, on the evidence as presented in its entirety and on the judge’s instructions, was unanimously sure Mr. Stanley was guilty under the law,” Gerein said in his address.
“Larger social issues, and the shape of criminal procedure, were not questions for them. If there are concerns about the police investigation, those should be directed to the police. If there are concerns about the prosecution, those concerns should be directed to me at public prosecutions. I stress, though, that those concerns must point to specific errors before they will be examined. To say something could have been done better or differently with no specifics and without demonstrated knowledge about the case gives no cause to think anything was improper or inadequate.”
Chris Murphy, the Torontobased lawyer who represents the Boushie family, was among those who contacted the province to share concerns about how the case was prosecuted. Murphy argues the jury should not have been allowed to hear evidence from nonexpert witnesses called by the defence who claimed to have had hang fires that lasted several seconds. A firearms expert called by the Crown testified that hang fires are rare and typically last less than half a second. He said he’d never heard of one lasting longer than a second.
Eleanor Sunchild, a Battlefordsarea lawyer who has been helping Boushie’s family, has previously said the family may pursue civil action for wrongful death now that criminal proceedings are over.
Stanley faces two charges of unsafe storage of firearms related to the events of Aug. 9, 2016. He is expected to appear in North Battleford provincial court next month to deal with those.