CALGARY -- Alberta's top court has ordered a third trial for a couple originally convicted then found not guilty in the death of their ill son.
The Alberta Court of Appeal has granted a request by the Crown to overturn the 2019 acquittal of David and Collet Stephan.
The Stephans were accused of not seeking medical attention sooner for 19-month-old Ezekiel, who had meningitis when he died in 2012.
A jury convicted the couple in 2016, but the Supreme Court of Canada overturned that verdict and ordered a second trial at which a judge acquitted them.
The Appeal Court judges ruled that comments made by the judge about a chief medical examiner demonstrated "a reasonable apprehension of bias."
As a result, the not guilty verdicts have been set aside and a new trial ordered.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 8, 2021.
