Man found guilty in Eaton Centre shooting gets new trial after conviction overturned
TORONTO — A man who was found guilty of second-degree murder in a daytime shooting at Toronto’s landmark Eaton Centre mall was granted a new trial Friday after a judge found the jury that convicted him was improperly selected.
The Court of Appeal for Ontario overturned Christopher Husbands’ convictions, saying the trial judge made an irreparable mistake by overruling a defence request regarding the method of jury selection.
As a result, the three-member appeal panel said, the jury was improperly constituted and the verdict cannot stand.
“In accordance with the current state of the law … what occurred here cannot be salvaged,” Justice David Watt wrote on behalf of the panel.