Ellard case arrives at Canada's highest court

Fourteen year old Reena Virk was beaten and drowned in British Columbia in late 1997 by a group of teenagers. One of the accused, Kelly Ellard, whose two convictions have been overturned, is facing an appeal by B. C. prosecutors.

Ellard has spent the last seven years in custody while her lawyers try to overturn what was ultimately a second-degree murder conviction in the death of Virk. This is the sixth visit to various levels in the justice system in a case that has held the public's attention not only for the brutality of the crime but the tortuous route it has taken through the courts. Ellard's first trial resulted in her being convicted of second-degree murder. This verdict was overturned on appeal when her lawyers successfully argued that the judge in the case, Madame Justice Nancy Morrison, erred in her instructions to the jury. Ellard, was released on bail but following a charge of assault causing bodily harm in a 2004 attack on a 58-year-old woman in New Westminster her bail was revoked. Her second trial later in 2004 ended in a mistrial. Ellard's third trial began in February, 2005 and resulted in her again being convicted of second-degree murder and being sentenced to life in prison. Life, in this case, meant that Ellard must wait seven years before applying for parole. In 2008 in a 2 to 1 decision, the B.C. Court of Appeal ruled once again to overturn the jury's verdict. This set the stage for prosecutors to appeal to the Supreme Court to have the verdict reinstated. One presumes that if prosecutors are not successful they will attempt to have this case heard for a fourth time. The legal aid system and the justice system is footing the bill for all these legal shenanigans and given the fact that the evidence is overwhelming in favor of a guilty verdict, one wonders the value of the courts allowing the matter to go this far on what to date have been largely a matter of semantics.