B.C.’s Criminal Justice Branch Monday announced appeals to two high-profile court cases.
The Crown is asking B.C.’s Court of Appeal to review the not-guilty verdict for Andelina Hecimovic and the two-year sentence for robbery handed to Douglas McPherson.
In the Hecimovic case, 19-year-old Beckie Dyer and her 21-year-old boyfriend Johny De Oliveira were killed in a two-car accident involving Hecimovic.
The 26-year-old was charged with two counts of dangerous driving causing death, but was found not guilty on both counts.
The victims’ families organized a letter-writing campaign to the federal justice minister in hopes the verdict would be appealed.
The two families added multimedia aspects to their request for an appeal, videotaping grieving mothers Debbie Dyer and Audrey De Oliveira reading their victim impact statements at the Maple Ridge Cemetery where their children are buried.
In the McPherson case, the Criminal Justice Branch asked for an appeal of the robbery sentence “taking into account the nature of the offence, the background of the offender and the need to protect the public.”
The B.C. Court of Appeal will decide whether the Crown’s appeal should be allowed in these two cases.
