Nicholas Rasberry murder acquittal appealed by Alberta Crown
Meghan Grant | CBC News | Posted: November 19, 2015 10:32 PM | Last Updated: November 19, 2015
Calgary judge found Rasberry guilty of manslaughter rather than 2nd-degree murder of Craig Kelloway
Crown prosecutors are asking the Alberta Court of Appeal to overturn Nicholas Rasberry's acquittal on a second-degree murder charge after he stabbed and slashed Calgary teacher Craig Kelloway 37 times.
In October, a judge found Rasberry guilty of the lesser offence of manslaughter after a two-week trial.
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Kelloway, who had moved to the city from Nova Scotia six years before his death, was stabbed to death with three knives, which all broke during the attack.
Rasberry has always admitted to killing Kelloway but claimed it was in self-defence after Kelloway threatened to sexually assault him.
Rasberry and his wife met Kelloway and his girlfriend in their backyard and began drinking and barbecuing together on May 4, 2013. The festivities later took them from the Kelloways' home to the Rasberrys.'
Judge Robert Hall rejected the self-defence theory, which would have led to a full acquittal, but found Rasberry had been provoked into the attack.
Sentencing for a manslaughter conviction ranges greatly from a suspended sentence — or no jail time — to a life sentence.
In its notice of appeal, the Crown argues that the trial judge erred in considering and allowing the defence of provocation and failed to explain the basis for acquittal thereby frustrating meaningful appellate review.
Rasberry is to be sentenced for manslaughter on Dec. 2.