Peter Beckett, born 1961, was a city councilor in New Zealand.
Image Credit: Hawke's Bay Today (with permission)
November 06, 2020 - 7:30 AM
A former New Zealand politician who successfully appealed a first-degree murder conviction has yet to learn if a third trial about the alleged murder of his wife will happen.
The Crown was scheduled to set a trial date for Peter Beckett last week. According to the B.C. Prosecution Service, that was adjourned to Nov. 30 to allow the Crown to conclude its deliberations.
Beckett was accused of killing his wife, Laura Letts-Beckett, for financial gain, during a 2010 boating trip to Arrow Lake in Revelstoke — a spot where the Alberta-based couple had vacationed many times before.
The first trial for Beckett was held in Kamloops and ended in a hung jury. The next trial was 2017 in Kelowna and that time a jury found him guilty.
In his appeal of the latter verdict and application for an acquittal, Beckett argued, among other things, that the evidence admitted shouldn’t have been used and the verdict was not supported by the evidence presented.
On some fronts, the Honourable Madam Justice Lauri Fenlon agreed, reversed the conviction and ordered a new trial.
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