Babcock killer appeals murder conviction
Mark Smich cites unreasonable verdict, too-harsh consecutive sentence as part of his grounds
An Ontario man found guilty of killing a young Toronto woman who vanished five years ago is appealing his firstdegree murder conviction and sentence, saying the verdict was unreasonable and the sentence too harsh.
Mark Smich, 30, of Oakville, and his friend Dellen Millard, 32, of Toronto, were found guilty in December of murdering Laura Babcock, with a judge ruling last month that the pair would not be eligible for parole for 50 years.
The 23-year-old Babcock disappeared in 2012 and her body has not been found. The pair’s trial heard Millard and Smich burned her body in an animal incinerator days after she went missing.
Millard and Smich have also been convicted of killing Tim Bosma — a Hamilton man who went missing in May 2013 after going with the pair for a test drive of a truck he was trying to sell online.
The judge in the Babcock trial ordered life sentences in the two murder cases to be served consecutively, leading to the 50-year parole ineligibility period.
Smich’s grounds for appeal, written in four bullet points, all in capital letters, reads: The “verdict was unreasonable; misapprehension of the evidence; errors of law” and “consecutive sentence too harsh.”
Babcock’s mother scoffed at Smich’s reasons. “The appeal is expected,” Linda Babcock told The Canadian Press. “I don’t think he’s going to get very far.”
Appeal Court documents show Smich filed his inmate notice of appeal on Feb. 27, one day after a courtroom erupted into cheers and a standing ovation as he and Millard were sentenced for Babcock’s murder.