Trial Date for Alberta Kafka

May 14, 2010 permalink

A new trial date has been set in the endless case we have named Alberta Kafka.

expand

collapse

New trial date set for Edmonton foster mother

Charged with second-degree murder of young boy

By Ryan Cormier, edmontonjournal.com May 14, 2010 2:02 PM

Courtroom sketch from the trial of a foster mother convicted of manslaughter on Nov. 29 in the death of her three-year-old foster child.

Photograph by: Amanda O'Connell, Global Edmonton

EDMONTON — A new trial date has been set for an Edmonton foster mother who was convicted in the death of a three-year-old boy living in her home.

In June 2009, the woman, who cannot be named, was sentenced for manslaughter, though the original charge was second-degree murder.

Both the Crown and defence later appealed the conviction in a joint application.

By judge alone, the woman will now stand trial on the original charge. That trial has been scheduled for April 4, 2011 and is expected to last a month.

The new trial was ordered on appeal because Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Richard Marceau mentioned to the jury the inconvenience, expense and hardship of a retrial simply because of “the unwillingness of one or more of their number to listen to the arguments of the rest.”

The woman, who had less than two months of foster family experience at the time, was with the boy in a bathroom when he suffered a blow to the head and lost consciousness in January 2007.

The trauma and swelling were so severe that immediate medical treatment would not have saved him, court heard.

The foster mother testified that the boy fell when he squirmed out of her arms.

The woman was held in a medium-security healing lodge in Saskatchewan, but was released on bail in August, pending the appeals, two months after her conviction.

She is prohibited from being alone with children under 12, and must live with her mother.

The foster child cannot be named.

rcormier@thejournal.canwest.com

Source: Edmonton Journal