A month after receiving a second conviction for the fatal house party stabbing of a University of Calgary student, the young man convicted in the crime is appealing the verdict.
Mitchell Harkes was found guilty a second time in May of second-degree murder in the killing of Brett Wiese in 2013 when the two were at a house party in the community of Brentwood.
The second trial came after the Alberta Court of Appeal overturned Harkes’ first conviction for Wiese’s death in July 2017.
When he was first convicted in 2015, Harkes was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 12 years.
In June of this year, a judge handed down the same sentence.
In the recent notice of appeal, dated July 24, 2019, Harkes said he is appealing on the grounds that the trial judge erred in his charge to the jury on the issue of causation, which led to prejudice.
If a new trial is odered, Harkes would like to have a trial by judge alone.
Harkes is serving his time at the Bowden Institution in Innisfail, Alta., according to the notice of appeal.
Comments