Image Credit: FILE PHOTO
November 28, 2019 - 4:39 PM
The B.C. Court of Appeal will allow a Kamloops man who was convicted of second-degree murder in December 2018 to have access to counsel after he was denied legal aid for his appeal.
Stephen George Fraser, born in 1960, was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment for the stabbing death of Cody Foster, with no chance of parole for 12 years.
Foster was stabbed and beaten to death in a Kamloops RV Park in February 2017. An autopsy found the 26-year-old man died as a result of 28 separate injuries to his head and neck including 17 stab wounds and 11 lacerations caused by blunt force trauma.
In a decision published this week, Fraser argues Crown counsel misled the jury by stating that Foster was in a vulnerable position.
“Mr. Foster’s blood alcohol concentration was 278 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, almost 3.5 times the legal limit for operating a motor vehicle,” the decision says.
Fraser says evidence at the trial established Foster was not in a vulnerable position during the fight and that he was in a ‘post-absorptive state’ at the time of his death, and was not as impaired as the Crown said he was.
Court of Appeal Justice John L. Hunter says he did not see any merit in the appeal.
“I am unable to support anything improper in this submission that would support an arguable appeal,” Hunter says.
However, Hunter ruled Fraser should have a lawyer assigned to him to act on a limited basis to review the potential grounds of an appeal after his application for legal aid was turned down.
For past stories on Stephen Fraser, go here.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Karen Edwards or call (250) 819-3723 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.
News from © iNFOnews, 2019