MURDER CONVICTION APPEALED

A Yorkton father who gunned down his teenage daughter's drug-dealing
boyfriend in 2003 in a bid to save her from a life of drugs is
appealing his second-degree murder conviction.

On Jan. 19, a jury found Kimberley Joseph Walker -- who was originally
charged with first-degree murder in the March 17, 2003, shooting death
of James William Hayward -- guilty of second-degree murder.

He was subsequently sentenced by Queen's Bench Justice Jennifer
Pritchard to life in prison with no eligibility for parole until at
least 10 years.

According to his notice of appeal filed Friday in the Saskatchewan
Court of Appeal, Walker is appealing on the grounds that the trial
judge erred in law in not placing the defence of self-defence before
the jury for consideration.

Walker is also appealing on the grounds that Pritchard erred in
instructing the jury to return a conviction only on one of three
charges, that she failed to instruct the jury that it could return a
verdict of not guilty and that she erred in not granting the defence
motion for a mistrial after failing to instruct the jury that it could
return a verdict of not guilty.

Walker's lawyer, Morris Bodnar, is also raising the issue that the
trial judge erred in not allowing Hayward's complete criminal record
to be entered at trial for the consideration of the jury.

His lawyer will also be arguing the judge's decision was contrary to
the law, the evidence and the weight of the evidence presented at the
nine-day jury trial in Yorkton.

During the trial, which drew national media attention and divided the
community, the defence painted a sympathetic portrayal of the
50-year-old welder and father of three as a loving father who was
desperately trying to save his 16-year-old daughter Jadah from her
older live-in boyfriend who was drawing her into a life of drug addiction.

The jury heard evidence that Hayward, 24, bled to death from five
gunshot wounds -- one in the back at close range -- after Walker went
to Hayward's home and shot him in front of Jadah.

During the trial Bodnar had called for a mistrial based on a Supreme
Court of Canada's unanimous decision in October that ruled a judge
could not take away a jury's ability to acquit.

Pritchard said it was "terribly unfortunate'' that she was not made
aware of this case before the charge to the jury. She suggested she
could recharge the jury with new instructions that they could acquit
but it would not be based on the law.

That suggestion was opposed by both the Crown and defence in the
case.

Pritchard subsequently ruled that she would not allow a mistrial nor
would she reinstruct the jury.