BC’s highest court has overturned the conviction of a young man found guilty of second degree murder in the stabbing death of another young man.
Joshua Berner made headlines shortly after his mother was convicted in a deadly crash that killed a four year old girl in Delta.
The BC Court of Appeal has granted Berner a new trial because the trial judge failed to instruct the jury he could have been convicted of a lesser charge, that being manslaughter.
Berner’s always maintained he acted in self-defence against 23-year old Benjamin Warland on a bus in Richmond.
The trial judge gave the jury instructions about self-defence, provocation and drunkenness, but she did not make it clear the jury had options.
Second degree murder carries a life sentence with no chance of parole for ten years.
A new trial has now been ordered.
Berner’s mother, Carol, is still waiting for a judge’s ruling on her bid to appeal her conviction for impaired and dangerous driving causing the 2008 death of Alexa Middelaer.
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