Appeal judge rejects bid by double-dog killer to restore challenge

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Calgary double canine killer John Geick’s bid to overturn his convictions has no benefit, a decide dominated Wednesday as he refused to reinstate his earlier attraction.

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And Decide Marina Paperny mentioned whereas her choice introduced up different motions that Geick’s lawyer, Efrayim Moldofsky, had deliberate to file, she did need to touch upon one in all them.

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“It was an fascinating argument that was made that provincial Crown counsel and an appellate decide ought to be eliminated and that we should always have out-of-provincial Crown counsel and judges,” Paperny mentioned of one in all Moldofsky’s different functions.

“I’ve to touch upon that for 2 causes,” the appeals court docket decide mentioned.

“One, there isn’t a factual matrix in anyway that would ever assist that form of utility, however moreover, a extra elementary downside is that there’s merely no jurisdiction for this court docket to make that order below any circumstances.”

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Decide discovered no ‘palpable and compelling error’ in earlier findings

Moldofsky mentioned there are a number of authorized grounds of attraction that may enable the county’s Supreme Courtroom to overturn Geick’s convictions for the deaths of his then-wife’s two canines two days aside in February 2019.

However Paperny disagreed.

“Whereas the appellant has articulated roughly 14 grounds of attraction, I take it in my view that they problem the findings of reality of the trial decide,” she mentioned.

Paperny mentioned such a evaluate by Courtroom of King’s Bench decide Bernette Ho must discover a “palpable and compelling error” in her choice.

“I’ve reviewed the explanations of the trial decide and the proposed arguments on attraction and I’m not happy that there’s any benefit to the attraction,” she mentioned.

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The appeals decide additionally mentioned she was not happy with any clarification Moldofsky had for delaying submitting an appellate file in time, which was the explanation the conviction problem was filed within the first place.

Man killed ex-wife’s two canines in February 2019

Geick was sentenced to 3 years in jail for beating Joanna Smith’s two canines to demise.

Ho dominated that Geick killed Smith’s basset hound, Sophie, on February 15, 2019, noting {that a} veterinarian discovered the canine’s liver to be “pulverized.”

Two days later, Geick repeatedly assaulted the girl’s Chihuahua, Tyler, so badly that the canine needed to be euthanized, Ho discovered.

Earlier than sentencing Ho Geick a yr in the past, he addressed the court docket and requested for mercy as he continued to proclaim his innocence.

Throughout his trial, Geick claimed that he was “brainwashed” by Smith into admitting to police that he had injured the pets, telling him that such a confession would enable them to reunite as a household.

KMartin@postmedia.com

On Twitter: @KMartinCourts