Supreme Court decision on Dennis Oland murder case expected Thursday
Bobbi-Jean MacKinnon | CBC News | Posted: July 10, 2017 3:43 PM | Last Updated: July 10, 2017
Country's highest court will rule on whether it will review overturning of conviction in 2011 death of father
Dennis Oland will find out Thursday whether the country's highest court will review his second-degree murder case in the 2011 bludgeoning death of his father, multimillionaire Richard Oland.
The Supreme Court of Canada will deliver its decision at 10:45 a.m. AT, according to an advisory issued on Monday.
The Crown is seeking to have the jury's guilty verdict reinstated, while Oland's defence is seeking an acquittal instead of the retrial ordered by the New Brunswick Court of Appeal when it quashed his conviction last fall.
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If the top court agrees to hear the matter, a hearing will be scheduled. If it denies the applications, a date for Oland's new trial will be set.
The Supreme Court receives about 600 applications for leave to appeal each year. Of those, only about 80 are granted.
A three-justice panel consisting of Justices Michael Moldaver, Suzanne Coté and Malcolm Rowe have been considering the applications from the Crown and defence since June 12.
Oland, 49, remains free on bail under conditions pending a new trial.
The Supreme Court sided with his defence lawyers in March, ruling the New Brunswick Court of Appeal had wrongly denied Oland bail while he waited to appeal his conviction.
Oland was convicted in December 2015 and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for at least 10 years.
He served about 10 months before the New Brunswick Court of Appeal overturned his conviction, citing an error in the trial judge's instructions to the jury.
The body of Richard Oland, 69, was discovered lying facedown in a pool of blood in his office on July 7, 2011. He had suffered 45 blows to his head, neck and hands. No weapon was ever found.
His son was the last known person to see him alive, during a visit to the elder Oland's office the night before.
Dennis Oland's extended family has maintained his innocence from the beginning.