Ricky John Smith selected trial by judge alone Monday when a retrial for a 2004 murder in the parking lot of a Prince George fast food restaurant.
In March 2006, a jury found Smith guilty of the second-degree murder of Brent Melanson, who bled to death in the early morning hours of Oct. 30, 2004 after he was allegedly cut in the neck with a machete in the parking lot of the Third Avenue Dairy Queen.
However, the verdict for Smith was overturned on appeal after it was found B.C. Supreme Court Justice Ian Meiklem, "unfairly and inaccurately" summarized evidence from one of the forensic pathologists when giving instructions to the jury.
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