Supreme Court dismisses appeals related to 2013 swarming death of Calgary man

The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed appeals from two men previously found guilty of second-degree murder in the 2013 swarming death of a Calgary man.

On Nov. 23, 2013, Lukas Strasser-Hird, 18, was swarmed, kicked, beaten and stabbed to death outside Calgary’s Vinyl nightclub by a group of people.

Franz Emir Cabrera and Assmar Shlah both appealed to the country’s highest court Friday, which dismissed the appeal without hearing an argument from the Crown.

1:48 Canada’s top court dismisses appeals for 2 men convicted in Calgary swarming death

“It won’t be necessary to hear from the Crown,” Supreme Court Justice Rosalie Abella said.

Dale Hird, Lukas’ father, was “overjoyed” with the result.

“As soon as I heard the judge say the Crown didn’t need to speak, I got chills,” Hird told Global News.

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“We were expecting three to six months of waiting.”

“We waited a year on one appeal,” Debra Hird, Strasser-Hird’s grandmother, said. “You wake up every day, you look at your emails because that’s how you get the notice.”

“It’s so emotionally draining.”

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In a split decision, the Alberta Court of Appeal rejected the bid but one justice wrote that a properly-instructed jury might not have convicted Cabrera and Shlah.

Shlah and Cabrera’s appeal to Canada’s highest court tried to argue the jury’s verdict was unreasonable.

The Supreme Court’s decision agreed with Alberta Chief Justice Catherine Fraser’s decision “that the jury’s verdict was not unreasonable.”

Strasser-Hird’s father said his son got some justice in Friday’s dismissed appeal.

“I’d rather all of this not happen and my son be alive, but right now, this is the best result.”

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Shlah had no comment on the dismissed appeal when exiting the court with his head covered by a jacket.

Two other men were convicted in the attack.

Nathan Gervais was found guilty of first-degree murder and has filed an appeal to the Court of Appeal of Alberta.

Joch Pouk was also found guilty of manslaughter in relation to Strasser-Hird’s death.

–with files from Nancy Hixt, Phil Heidenreich, Jayme Doll and Bryan Mullan