A Penticton man convicted of the brutal sex slaying of an elderly Okanagan woman is getting another chance at freedom, due to the mistakes of a BC Supreme Court Justice.
In the summer of 2006, the body of the 85-year-old victim was found inside her rental apartment in Penticton.
She had been smothered to death and then raped.
After a lengthy trial, the jury convicted 23-year-old Corey Wolf Swite of first degree murder. He received the mandatory life prison sentence with little chance of parole for 25 years.
Following the BC Court of Appeal decision issued Tuesday, Swite is getting a new trial.
The appeals court has ruled the trial judge made mistakes in approving the way the jury was selected, meaning the court didn’t have the jurisdiction to hear the case.
The Court of Appeal also noted it’s impossible to say if the mistakes contributed to the guilty verdict, but added Swite did suffer actual prejudice in the selection of the jury.
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