Onion Lake Murder Case Headed To Supreme Court
Wednesday, September 16, 2009 at 12:39
A Regina Crown prosecutor is appealing an order to give an Alberta trucker a new trial in the death of an Onion Lake woman.
About a month ago, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal quashed the second-degree murder conviction of Gordon Dwight Hurley, who was convicted by a jury in the death of Jarita Naistus.
Naistus was a 20-year-old university student and mother of two. Her strangled and beaten body was found in a Lloydminster hotel room in Oct. 2005.
Hurley was convicted by a jury of the murder in 2007.
Crown prosecutor Lane Wiegers filed the notice of appeal, which will be heard by the Supreme Court of Canada.
Two Court of Appeal judges ruled the jury was not properly warned about the testimony of the prosecution’s main witness, a jailhouse informant, while the third disagreed.
“We agree with the dissent in the Court of Appeal, that the judge’s jury instruction was proper, that there weren’t any errors,” Wiegers says.
The appeal, which will be heard in Ottawa, is tentatively set for the end of March 2010.
Wiegers says a decision is usually received three to six months after the court hears the appeal.
In the meantime, Hurley remains in custody, but he can apply to be released.