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BREAKING NEWS: Prevost conviction overturned


http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/an/loc...ub=CalgaryHome

The Alberta Court of Appeals has ordered a new trial for Natalie Pasqua, the woman convicted of pushing 17-year-old Gage Prevost to his death from a downtown LRT platform.

Pasqua was convicted by a jury of second degree murder in February 2008 and was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for a minimum of 12 years.
Three judges from the Court of Appeals overturned the decision and released their decision on Monday saying that:
"The trial judge erred in admitting the rebuttal evidence of the detective. It was collateral, prejudicial and incorrect. The error was compounded by the trial judge's refusal to admit the appellant's statements to the police. We conclude that, read as a whole, the instructions to the jury were unfair and unbalanced, and in particular, failed to adequately link the evidence to the appellant's main defense that this was an accident."
"The combination of errors is serious and resulted in an unfair trial. This was a miscarriage of justice which cannot be saved by (a section) of the Criminal Code. The appeal is allowed. We set aside the conviction and order a new trial."

Gage Prevost died Aug. 1, 2007, at the 8th Street S.W. LRT platform, when he got in a fight with Pasqua over drugs.

Pasqua claimed that Prevost pushed her first from the platform onto the tracks.
She then remounted the platform and pushed Prevost back.
The young man fell between two LRT cars and was crushed to death between the train and the platform.
Pasqua's lawyer, Christopher Nowlin, appealed her conviction arguing that pertinent evidence was never heard at the trial and that Justice J.D. Rooke's instructions to the jury were not fair or balanced.

Natalie Pasqua has maintained that the incident was an accident and that she did not intend to kill Prevost.