Convicted serial killer Cody Allan Legebokoff is taking his quest for a new trial to the Supreme Court of Canada.
An application seeking leave to appeal has been filed with the highest court in the country, his lawyer, Eric Gottardi, confirmed Tuesday.
In September 2014, Legebokoff was sentenced to life in prison without eligibility to apply for parole for 25 years for the murders of Stacey Stuchenko, 35, Natasha Montgomery, 24, Cynthia Maas, 35, and Loren Leslie, 15.
Legebokoff then turned to the B.C. Court of Appeal to seek a new trial. That request was denied in September and Gottardi indicated then that the SCC would be the next step.
At issue is whether B.C. Supreme Court Justice Glen Parrett committed a miscarriage of justice by waiting until after the trial to release a pre-trial judgment on a change-of-venue application.
In the judgment, Parrett was critical of Legebokoff's then-lawyer, Jim Heller. Gottardi argued the Parrett had a duty to immediately disclose his views and that the delay in doing so created an appearance of unfairness.
The Court of Appeal found Parrett had no such duty and that, regardless, his criticisms of Heller were unfounded
"The complaint there is the same as in the court below," Gottardi said Tuesday in an e-mail to The Citizen. "In our view, judges, as guardians of trial fairness, cannot hide concerns about a lawyer's competence, ethics or honesty from citizens facing criminal prosecution.
"If granted leave, we will attempt to persuade the Supreme Court of that proposition."
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