Keenan McNeely appeals his first degree murder conviction and sentencing
CBC News | Posted: July 15, 2017 12:11 AM | Last Updated: July 15, 2017
Convicted in the 2014 murder of a young Fort Good Hope woman, McNeely says judge erred in several ways
The young man convicted of murdering a Fort Good Hope, N.W.T. mother is appealing both his conviction and his sentencing.
Keenan McNeely was convicted of first degree murder after he brutally beat and sexually assaulted Charlotte Lafferty in March 2014.
McNeely was only 17 at the time of the murder, but he was given an adult sentence of life in prison with no possibility of parole for 10 years because of the severity of the crime.
In court documents McNeely claims the judge made errors regarding evidence presented at his trial, including the judge's decision to allow expert "blood spatter" testimony from an RCMP officer. He also claims the judge made a mistake by sentencing him as an adult.
No court date has been set for the appeal.