An appeal has been filed in the case of the mistaken-identity killing of Raymond Ellis.
Prosecutor Louis Bouthillier filed Friday with the Quebec Court of Appeal. He is hoping to overturn Judge Sophie Bourque's ruling issued Jan. 12.
She ordered a stay in the trial of five men accused of the killing of Ellis: Cleveland Alexander-Scott, John Tshiamala, McClee Charles, Evens Belleville, and Ernso Theobrun. The stay effectively let the men go free.
Judge Bourque ordered the stay because she felt the behaviours of the crown represented a severe violation of the rights of the accused.
In the appeal, Bouthillier argues the judge made several mistakes in law and failed to consider other alternatives.
Crown's actions
The crown worked with police to send an under cover officer into Riviere Des Praries prison, where key witness Wilkerno Dragon was serving a sentence for an unrelated crime.
Dragon had identified some of the accused to police, but when the case was in court in September he reversed his position and said he could not remember the details he had previously provided.
The crown heard rumours that he had been given money in prison to change his story.
Judge Bourque ruled the crown's actions merited more than a mistrial, and instead granted a stay.
Ellis
Ellis, 25, was beaten and stabbed to death at Aria night club on October 23, 2005, by a group of at least 15 people. He was mistaken for a member of a rival gang.
Ellis graduated from Dawson College social sciences in 2001. His parents set up a memorial fund that will help pay for awards to promising social sciences students.
