New Brunswick court grants Dennis Oland bail pending new murder trial
FREDERICTON — Dennis Oland held hands with his wife and children as he exited by the front door of the Fredericton courthouse Tuesday, free on bail a day after an appeal court quashed his murder conviction and ordered a new trial.
“As a family, we are very relieved,” said Moosehead Breweries Ltd. executive chairman Derek Oland, who has steadfastly maintained his nephew’s innocence.
Dennis Oland had been delivered to a back entrance of the courthouse in a sheriff’s van, wearing handcuffs and shackles. But Justice Marc Richard said Oland has regained the presumption of innocence, and that he was no threat to the public or a flight risk, and ordered him set free.
The judge said the public’s faith in the justice system would be shaken more by Oland’s continued detention than by an order granting him bail.