A Nova Scotia man convicted of committing a Hells Angels-ordered killing in October 2000 has been granted a new trial by the province’s Court of Appeal.
Dean Kelsie was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder by a judge and jury in 2003 and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for at least 25 years.
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But now, more than 14 years after Kelsie began serving the sentence, the Appeal Court has ruled that the trial judge erred in his instructions to the jury.
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It says the judge failed to properly instruct the jury on the law, and erred in his instructions on what the jurors could make of the hearsay evidence of co-conspirators.
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The ruling also says the judge should have given the lesser included offence of manslaughter as an alternative verdict.
Sean Simmons was shot in the head, in the lobby of a Dartmouth apartment building, because he’d had an affair with a girlfriend of a member of the motorcycle gang.
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