Alberta’s top court has ordered a third trial for a couple originally convicted then found not guilty in the death of their ill son.
The Alberta Court of Appeal has granted a request by the Crown to overturn the 2019 acquittal of David and Collet Stephan.
The Stephans were accused of not seeking medical attention sooner for 19-month-old Ezekiel, who had meningitis when he died in 2012.
A jury convicted the couple in 2016, but the Supreme Court of Canada overturned that verdict and ordered a second trial at which a judge acquitted them.
The Appeal Court judges ruled that comments made by the judge about a chief medical examiner demonstrated “a reasonable apprehension of bias.”
As a result, the not guilty verdicts have been set aside and a new trial ordered.
READ MORE: Accused mother cries at Alberta trial over boy who died of meningitis
The Canadian Press
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