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Defence lawyer argues judge in third trial erred. The daunting possibility of a fourth trial for convicted killer Kelly Ellard yesterday packed a Vancouver courtroom in the B.C. Court of Appeal.
The parents of Victoria teen Reena Virk, who was beaten and drowned to death by Ellard in November 1997, watched the appeal arguments closely from the front row of the public gallery.
Ellard's parents sat in the next row and, in an unusual move, Ellard herself was brought into the courtroom at her own request.
Ellard, 15 years old at the time of the murder, wore a striped shirt and dark slacks and sat slouched with little expression on her face in a chair at the side of the courtroom during the daylong hearing.
Outside court, Reena's parents appeared unhappy but resigned to the ordeal of hearing the details of their daughter's death yet again.
"If [Kelly Ellard] would just admit her guilt, life would be a lot easier for all of us," said Suman Virk, Reena's mom.
Reena's father, Manjit Virk, said he hopes it's the last time he has to show up in court.
"It's just insane. Nothing makes sense any more," he said.
Whether a fourth trial actually happens will not be known for some time as a three-member panel of B.C.'s highest court reserved judgment after hearing submissions from both sides.
The panel seemed unimpressed with the main thrust of defence lawyer Peter Wilson's submission that the trial judge erred because he failed to give special instructions on collusion of teenaged witnesses who testified they heard Ellard confess to the killing.
The trial judge, then-B.C. Supreme Court Justice Robert Bauman, has since been promoted to the appeal court.
On a second issue raised by Wilson, that of the judge's decision to allow the re-examination of one of the teens, the panel spent nearly an hour grilling prosecutor Catherine Murray, who ran the second and third trials.
Murray argued the case did not hinge on the teen's testimony and should not be grounds for yet another trial.
Wilson was appealing the April 2005 conviction of Ellard after her third trial. She received a life sentence with no possibility of parole for seven years in the beating and drowning death of Reena under the Craigflower Bridge.
Ellard was initially convicted in 2000 but had her conviction overturned on appeal. Her second trial in 2004 resulted in a hung jury. Ellard has also filed an appeal of her sentence, an appeal that will only go ahead if the conviction appeal fails.
Keith Fraser, The Province
Published: Thursday, May 29, 2008
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