REGINA – A man convicted of murder in a “Mr. Big” sting operation has lost his appeal. American George Allgood was found guilty in January 2014 of first-degree murder in the shooting death of his ex-girlfriend Susan Reinhardt and the attempted murder of her boyfriend David Ristow.
Rienhardt was killed after shots were fired through a sliding door while she was sleeping in her City Park home in July 2006 with Ristow, who survived the shooting.
READ MORE: Allgood gets life in prison for murder of Susan Reinhardt
A key point in the conviction was the “Mr. Big” sting operation which was essential in the Crown’s case. Allgood was invited into a fake crime organization and confessed to s
hooting Reinhardt to an undercover police officer posing as a fake crime boss.
Allgood appealed his conviction to the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal on two grounds.
The first was that he was convicted prior to the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision on the admissibility of confessions obtained during “Mr. Big” sting operations.
In its decision, the Supreme Court set out a new framework for the admissibility of confessions made through the so-called “Mr. Big” sting operations.
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Justice Maurice Herauf found the trial judge followed the roadmap set out by the Supreme Court.
“In my opinion,” wrote Herauf in a decision released Friday, “even though Mr. Allgood’s trial took place prior to Hart, the trial judge followed, for the most part, the roadmap subsequently set out in Hart to determine the admissibility of the “Mr. Big” confession.”
“There was no abuse of power.”
Allgood also appealed on whether the trial judge should have admitted hearsay statements from Reinhardt.
During the trial, Judge Grant Currie admitted a number of hearsay statements made by Reinhardt to friends and co-workers about Allgood prior to her death. Allgood stated the evidence was highly prejudicial and should not have been admitted.
Herauf disagreed with those appeal grounds.
“The trial judge made no error when admitting the deceased victim’s hearsay statements,” wrote Herauf.
“The trial judge found the statements to be relevant, necessary and reliable. A trial judge is well-placed to determine the extent to which hearsay dangers of a particular case are of concern and whether they can be sufficiently alleviated.”
Allgood is currently serving a mandatory life sentence for the first-degree murder conviction with no chance of parole for 25 years and a 25 year sentence for attempted murder. Both terms were ordered to be served concurrently.
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