An Ontario Court has granted an appeal to a Leamington man convicted of second degree murder in 2017.
Andrew Cowan was sentenced to life in prison for killing his best friend Edward Witt in a pickup truck crash in 2012 that the defence claimed was part of a suicide pact.
The court has granted the appeal on the grounds that the Crown Attorney and the trial judge had a prior friendship.
The appeal decision stated "the Crown’s failure to fully inform the defence jeopardized the appellant’s right to a fair trial."
"Whether the trial judge was actually biased or not is not the issue. The mere appearance of bias is enough to satisfy the test. In this case, it is difficult to imagine how the “reasonable and right-minded person” would dispel the spectre of bias where the trial judge shares drinks and a meal with the prosecution team minutes after the jury entered a conviction on a very serious criminal charge," wrote Justice J.C. MacPherson in the decision.
As a result, the conviction was set aside and a new trial was ordered.
