The B.C. Court of Appeal has dismissed Daniel Aitken’s appeal of his conviction for the second-degree murder of Alexander James McLean.
On Tuesday, defence lawyer Peter Firestone told the appeal court that Aitken had not filed any documents and was therefore withdrawing his appeal. The appeal court then dismissed Aitken’s appeal for want of prosecution.
The dismissal marks the end of the legal road for Aitken, who is in custody serving a life sentence with no possibility of parole until 2031.
On Jan. 25, 2009, Aitken was convicted by a jury of the first-degree murder of Adan Merino, who was shot outside Victoria’s Chelsea apartment building on Dec. 28, 2004. He was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years.
Later in November 2009, Aitken was convicted of the second-degree murder of McLean, who was found shot to death in an Esquimalt Park on Oct. 29, 2003. He was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 18 years.
The McLean conviction was Aitken’s third in 14 years for killing a fellow player in Victoria’s drug scene.
In 1995, he was convicted of manslaughter for shooting drug dealer Samir Shamoon. He was sentenced to two years in jail for that offence.
Aitken denied killing both Merino and McLean.
In April 2012, the B.C. Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal of the Merino conviction. On March 7, 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada denied Aitken leave to appeal. This means he will continue to serve a life sentence for Merino’s murder.
In the meantime, Aitken had appealed the McLean conviction — although he never filed any documents.
After the decision by the Supreme Court of Canada, there was little point in pursuing the second appeal, the appeal court heard Tuesday.
“Once you get a sentence for life in Canada, you cannot get consecutive life sentences,” Firestone told the appeal court. “Mr. Aitken on the Merino count got a sentence for life.”
Excerpts from the 2012 Merino appeal court judgment show Aitken was also a suspect in the disappearance of missing Langford woman Marilynne Neill. The excerpts show police suspected links among Aitken’s involvement in the Merino and McLean murders and the alleged kidnapping and murder of Neill.
The 30-year-old mother and small-time drug trafficker was the former girlfriend of Aitken’s best friend, Matthew Poole. Neill was suposed to attend court with Poole, her co-accused, on charges of possession for the purpose of trafficking on Feb. 17, 2003. She disappeared on Feb. 16, 2003.
Poole was acquitted.
No charges have been laid in connection with her presumed death.
Aitken has been serving his sentence in Kent Institution. It is expected he will now be transferred to the federal penitentiary in Prince Albert, Sask.
