A murder conspiracy retrial for Curtis Vey and Angela Nicholson has ended with a not-guilty verdict after a central piece of evidence was excluded.
Vey and Nicholson were found not guilty on Monday after the Crown and defence did not present new evidence at the start of their retrial in Prince Albert, Sask.
The retrial was delayed after the judge considered the admissibility of an iPod recording.
Defence lawyers Aaron Fox and Ron Piché argued last month the recording shouldn’t have been seized by police without a warrant.
The police, according to the defence, breached the charter rights of the accused by taking the item.
The Crown described the recording as the crux of its case. It contains a July 2013 conversation between Vey and Nicholson in which the pair discuss killing their spouses.
On Monday, as the trial was set to begin, Justice Catherine Dawson ruled the recording was inadmissible evidence because it violated the co-accused’s charter rights.
Neither person knew they were being recorded and had a reasonable expectation of privacy, the defence argued during a previous voir dire hearing.
In light of Dawson’s ruling, the Crown and defence both stated they would not call evidence during the trial.
With “no evidence at all for this court with respect to the indictment,” Dawson acquitted both Vey and Nicholson.
The judge did not rule on the admissibility of any other evidence.
Suspecting her husband was cheating, Brigitte Vey planted an iPod in her home and set it to record. Playing back the audio, she heard Curtis Vey and Nicholson discussing a plan to kill her and Nicholson’s spouse, Jim Taylor.
Brigitte Vey said outside of court that when she brought the recording to police six years ago, the best outcome was already achieved: neither she nor Jim Taylor were harmed.
Crown prosecutor Lori O’Connor said she will review the judge’s 73-page decision and determine whether to appeal the judge’s decision on the iPod recording’s admissibility.
Curtis Vey and Angela Nicholson each faced two counts of conspiracy to commit murder over an alleged plan to kill Brigitte Vey and Jim Taylor.
Brigitte Vey concealed the iPod in her family home, suspecting to record audio revealing her husband was having an affair. When she heard the alleged plot, she brought the item to police.
Curtis Vey and Nicholson were convicted in June 2016 and sentenced to three years in prison. Their lawyers appealed, and Vey and Nicholson were released while their appeal was heard.
Saskatchewan’s Court of Appeal overturned the decision last year and a new trial was ordered.