A lawyer for a Surrey man who strangled his pregnant wife suggested Friday that the B.C. Court of Appeal could substitute his client’s murder conviction for a manslaughter conviction.
Michael Tammen made the submissions during the conviction appeal of Mukhtiar Panghali, a former school teacher who was found guilty in the second-degree murder of Manjit Panghali, 31.
The defence lawyer said the court could acquit his client and order a new trial but also said they were open to finding a verdict of manslaughter.
He said the case was a difficult one for all concerned, noting that it was based entirely on circumstantial evidence against his client.
The Crown’s case came down to whether or not his client had sufficient intent to commit murder, Tammen told a three-member panel of the B.C. Court of Appeal.
He said there was insufficient evidence upon which to reach a verdict of murder.
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“At the end of the day, the only reasonable verdict, leaving aside the question of identity, was manslaughter.”
Manslaughter is a lesser offence than murder.
Tammen argued that the trial judge, B.C. Supreme Court Madam Justice Heather Holmes, wrongly admitted autopsy evidence that Manjit Panghali had suffered a hematoma.
The admission of evidence came just before the Crown concluded its case and prevented his client from possibly calling evidence and testifying in his own defence, he said.
Tammen then posed a “hypothetical” scenario in which his client might have gotten into an argument with his wife which escalated into a physical fight — events which would include a “very clear” path to a manslaughter conviction.
Justice David Frankel questioned why that one piece of evidence was so critical to the defence, especially since the judge eventually decided to give it no weight in her verdict.
Tammen responded that the evidence of a hematoma could have allowed the Crown to cross-examine his client about a possible sexual assault or other physical assault that occurred in addition to the events that caused Manjit Panghali’s death.
It would pit his client’s word against that of an expert and leave Panghali open to being convicted of an even more serious charge, that of first-degree murder, he said.
Manjit disappeared after attending a prenatal yoga class in south Surrey on Oct. 18, 2006. She was four months pregnant with her second child. Her charred remains were found five days later off Deltaport Way.
Panghali received the mandatory sentence of life in prison with no parole eligibility for 11 years.
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