Crown will not appeal Stanley verdict

Saskatchewan’s public prosecutions office has decided not to appeal the Gerald Stanley verdict.

While it cannot overturn the jury’s not guilty decision, it can look at the instructions the jury received from the judge in deciding to appeal.

In this case, it has decided not to.

Stanley was found not guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Colten Boushie on Feb. 9.

Boushie was shot dead after he and four friends, after a day of drinking, drove onto Stanley’s farm near Biggar, Sask. on Aug. 9, 2016.

Stanley testified he fired warning shots into the air to scare off the intruder, pulling the trigger “three or four times” but only two shots went off.

He said when he moved to turn off the vehicle Boushie was in, a struggle ensued and the gun accidentally discharged without a trigger pull.

“Boom, it just went off,” he told court.

His lawyer, Scott Spencer, presented evidence theorizing the gun experienced a hang fire – when a bullet is delayed from discharging after a trigger pull.

More to come.