A decision on Dennis Oland’s appeal of bail denial has been reserved after arguments from both the Crown and defence were presented to a panel of three Justices, including the Chief Justice of New Brunswick.
For the third time since his murder conviction in December, Oland appearing at the court of appeal in downtown Fredericton. His three lawyers along with members of his family were there as well — Oland walked into the prisoner’s box at the back of the relatively small courtroom wearing a brown jacket with his feet shackled, as he has during his previous appearances in that court.
Back in February Justice JC Marc Richard denied Oland bail saying the public’s confidence on the justice system would be undermined if he was released. Defence lawyer Alan Gold arguing that an ordinary, reasonable person would understand the decision to release Oland while Crown prosecutor Kathryn Gregory says the bail decision speaks for itself and was very balanced.
Gold says one of the grounds of appeal is unreasonable verdict, says this has the hallmarks of an unreasonable verdict case #Oland.
— CHSJ News (@chsjnews) March 7, 2016
Now talking about public interest/ public confidence ‘not sure how much more court needs to hear in relation to that component’ – Gregory.
— CHSJ News (@chsjnews) March 7, 2016
While no date was set for the decision on the bail appeal Chief Justice Ernest Drapeau did schedule Oland’s appeal of his conviction for October 18 of this year with a week set aside.
Oland was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole for at least 10 years for killing his father, Richard Oland.
