TORONTO — A man convicted of killing his wife at a second trial has been granted bail while he appeals.
While releasing someone convicted of such a serious crime is unusual, Ontario's top court said Roger Short deserves his freedom for now.
"Judicial interim release pending appeal for a person convicted of murder is rare," Justice James MacPherson wrote in his bail decision. "However, in my view, this is a rare murder case in which, at this juncture, the interests of reviewability outweigh the interests of enforcement."
Barbara Short, 48, of Mooretown, Ont., was found dead behind her upscale home in the early hours of Sunday, Oct. 19, 2008. Her husband was arrested within days.
The couple were high school sweethearts and had two daughters, but court records show their 28-year marriage was under severe strain and she was taking steps to leave him at the time of her death. Three years later, police were still appealing for information related to the killing.
Short, now 56, was convicted in Sarnia, Ont., in February 2013 of killing his wife, a child care operator. His first trial ended in a hung jury.
Following his subsequent conviction, he first asked for bail pending appeal in 2014. The Appeal Court refused on the basis that it was not in the public interest given the seriousness of the crime for which he had been convicted. Short then applied for bail a second time.
As it did initially, the prosecution again opposed bail, saying that Short does have grounds to contest his conviction, but that they aren't strong enough to overturn the jury's guilty verdict.
Short, however, argues he deserves to be let out given that he now has new evidence to offer and the length of time he has already been behind bars.
In accepting his arguments, MacPherson noted that the judge who presided over Short's trial refused to allow his lawyer to remove himself from the case five weeks before the hearing was to begin. The lawyer had said Short had stopped paying him and he could not ethically represent him.
This, the Appeal Court ruled, presents a serious issue.
Additionally, MacPherson said, Short now has extensive new evidence about the possibility someone else killed his wife — a possibility barely explored at trial.
"The applicant has engaged a respected private investigator and there is a great deal of information about a potential third party suspect," MacPherson said. "Whereas at the time of the trial a third party suspect defence appeared as farfetched, that is no longer a fair characterization."
MacPherson noted that Short had no criminal record before his conviction and will be living with Russell Bain — a former police officer — and his wife Gaelene Bain in Dorchester, Ont.
