Driver in deadly crash appeals convictions
Two young sons and girlfriend killed in collision
Two weeks after a Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench jury found him guilty of 12 driving-related offences for a crash that killed his two sons and girlfriend, Robert Major is appealing his convictions.
Major, 35, was convicted on Jan. 24 of three counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm, three counts of dangerous driving causing death, three counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and three counts of criminal negligence causing death.
Judicial stays were entered on the dangerous driving charges, and Major was sentenced to seven years on the criminal negligence charges.
His notice of appeal, filed with the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal late Thursday, lists seven grounds of appeal.
It alleges the trial judge, Justice Mona Dovell, should not have allowed a retired RCMP collision reconstructionist to testify about the speeds collected from an event data recorder in Major’s truck because he was not deemed an expert in its interpretation.
During the two-week trial, the jury heard, based on Cpl. Doug Green’s information, that Major was driving 137 kilometres per hour five seconds before hitting a semi after crossing into Highway 16 from Range Road 3083 on the morning of Feb. 22, 2016.
Two of Major’s children — fouryear-old Brenden Major and nineyear-old Theodore Cardinal — and his girlfriend, 26-year-old Kimberly Oliverio, died from blunt force trauma.
Major’s five-year-old son, 11-year-old nephew and a co-worker were badly injured.
The jury heard that none of the passengers were wearing seat belts.
Major said he didn’t know he had entered the intersection because a stop sign was missing.
The appeal states the judge erred in law by allowing Major’s statements to a “person in authority” to be heard by the jury without conducting a voir dire to determine its admissibility.
It also says the Crown’s failure to “control their witnesses during examination in chief caused the jury to hear inadmissible, prejudicial and hearsay evidence” from a “professional police witness,” and that Dovell should have declared a mistrial.
It also argues that Dovell erred in her instructions to the jury, which returned a verdict that was “unreasonable and unsupported by evidence that ought to have been admissible.”
Major wants a new trial if the appeal is successful.