Janson Baker appeals Dieppe double-murder conviction, seeks new trial
Janson Baker, convicted in March of killing a New Brunswick couple in 2019, has filed a handwritten appeal citing alleged trial errors and seeking a new trial.
Convicted Dieppe killer files handwritten appeal, alleges trial judge errors
Janson Bryan Baker, 29, who was found guilty in March of the 2019 murders of a married couple in Dieppe, New Brunswick, is appealing his conviction, according to ca.news.yahoo.com. Baker filed a handwritten notice of appeal on June 1 with the New Brunswick Court of Appeal, alleging multiple legal errors during his two-month trial and calling for a new trial to be ordered.
A jury found Baker guilty on two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Bernard Saulnier, 78, and Rose-Marie Saulnier, 74, who were killed on Sept. 7, 2019. He was sentenced in May to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years.
"In brief, I contend [there] was a [myriad] of legal errors, misapprehension of evidence that were committed by both the Trial Judge and the Crown prosecutors," Baker wrote in the notice of appeal. The document states he intends to retain a lawyer for the appeal proceedings.
Alleged errors by the trial judge
Baker's appeal targets rulings made by Justice Cameron Gunn during the trial. He alleges Gunn erred by excluding potential exculpatory evidence, by allowing certain testimony to be heard by the jury while blocking other testimony, and by failing to allow the jury to consider alternative suspects for the killings.
The notice of appeal also alleges Gunn did not properly instruct the jury on how to assess the credibility of two of the Crown's key witnesses.
The first witness, Zachery Trevors, testified that Baker drove him to the Saulnier home, that he saw Baker inside the residence, heard two gunshots, and later observed Baker holding a gun. During the trial, it emerged that Trevors had spent days in a jail cell with transcripts of another witness's testimony — a revelation that led Baker's defence counsel to argue Trevors was tainted and should have been barred from testifying.
A second witness, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, testified that Baker confessed to the killings while the two were incarcerated together. That witness acknowledged having an extensive criminal record and admitted to receiving a benefit in exchange for cooperating with police and agreeing to testify.
Baker contends that Gunn's instructions to the jury largely framed both witnesses as credible, leaving jurors with an unduly favourable impression of their accounts.
Gold chain dispute
Baker also disputes how the Crown handled evidence related to a gold neck chain photographed hours after the killings. The Crown alleged the chain had been taken from Bernard Saulnier's body, and that Baker was paid for the murders with a separate gold chain.
According to Baker's notice of appeal, the jury should have been told that the FBI analyzed photographs of the chain and could not determine whether it was the same one. Baker argues the jury was left with an improper impression on this point.
Trial background
The RCMP announced Baker had been charged on Sept. 7, 2023 — four years after the Saulniers were found dead. His trial in Moncton began on Jan. 3 and heard from more than 30 witnesses. Jury deliberations lasted five days before guilty verdicts were returned on March 2.
During Baker's sentencing on May 7, members of the Saulnier family delivered victim impact statements, describing their lives as "shattered" by the killings.
Justice Gunn addressed Baker directly at sentencing: "You herded them like animals into a bedroom, you assassinated them for the price of a gold chain."
Source: Google News CA — Crime (EN)