A Calgary man serving a life sentence for two counts of murder should not have been found guilty, said the province’s top court Monday in its decision to overturn the convictions and enter acquittals.
The Alberta Court of Appeal found “serious flaws” in the trial judge’s analysis of the evidence, which led to an “unreasonable verdict.”
Gerald Benn will now be released from prison. He’s been in custody for more than five years since his arrest in September 2020.
“A conviction cannot be supported by this evidence,” wrote the Alberta Court of Appeal in its decision, siding with Benn’s appeal lawyer, Alias Sanders.
The finding aligns with what Benn’s original lawyer, Andrea Urquhart, argued at trial.
On Aug. 8, 2020, three men were shot inside a vehicle in Calgary’s northwest community of Sandstone Valley. Abas Ahmed Ibrahim, 27, and Mohamed Khalid Shaikh, 19, were killed. Dimetri Marr was injured but survived.
In 2023, following a trial, Court of King’s Bench Justice Nick Devlin found that Benn was the shooter based on the accused
