The Supreme Court of Canada has ordered a new trial in the case of Deborah Lee Doonanco, a Glendon woman who was found guilty in November 2016 of second degree murder in the death of her common law husband, Kevin Feland.
“We are all of the view that the appeal must be allowed, and new trial ordered on all counts,” Supreme Court Justice Michael J. Moldaver stated in his reading of the findings of the court Tuesday morning.
The decision centered around the Crown’s handling of an expert report dealing with the subject of battered wife syndrome
“… We are not persuaded that the trial justice’s remedial ruling was capable of undoing the prejudice caused to Miss Doonanco by the manner in which the crown proceeded,” Justice Moldaver said in the ruling.
In his summation, Moldaver said it was the finding of the court that this action had resulted in a miscarriage of justice.
During the course of the trial, the Crown had contended that Doonanco had shot Feland as he lay on the couch of her home, before lighting the house on fire and calling 911 to report the incident, telling those that arrived on the scene that Feland had started the fire. The defense had claimed that Doonanco was the victim of long-time emotional and physical abuse, and that Feland had been using crack cocaine in the hours leading up to his death and had threatened to kill Doonanco, with Doonanco shooting him in self-defense.
Doonanco’s lawyer, Brian Beresh, appealed Doonanco’s second degree murder conviction to the Alberta Court of Appeal and, after dismissal at that level, took it forward to the Supreme Court. Doonanco was granted bail pending decision on the appeal.
“I’m pretty overwhelmed by the fact that nine judges heard this appeal and they unanimously to a person agreed that she had not received a fair trial as the result of the conduct of the prosecution,” Beresh said in speaking to St. Paul Journal Tuesday afternoon from Ottawa. “How things will proceed from here, I don’t know. It would be my hope that she would not be re-tried but I don’t know. “
Beresh said criminal law allows for prosecution to use the discretion of not proceeding with another trial, However, he said it’s not used frequently, especially on a second trial.
“We argued at the trial that it was not fair what had happened. The trial judge agreed with us in part, disagreed in some part but the Supreme Court said today that was wrong. The prosecution should not have hidden their expert report as they did. They should not have proceeded in the manner they did, and they caused an unfair trial.”
Beresh said his client is obviously pleased with today’s outcome.
“You can appreciate what a bouncing ball this is for my client because the majority of the (Alberta) Court of Appeal said it was a fair trial, one said it wasn’t. Now we have nine judges saying it was not a fair trial and taking only 10 minutes to consider this," Beresh said. "She is very pleased that justice was done today. It’s been six years, shy about two months.”
