Four years after the judgment which condemned him to life imprisonment for the murder of Simone Sanderson, Kyllan Ellis asks the court to order a new trial.
In July 2018, Kyllan Ellis was convicted of the 2012 murder of the 23-year-old Indigenous woman.
He pleads that his mental state prevented him from understanding his arrest as well as the rules which impose a deadline for appealing the judgment.
Kyllan Ellis suffers from schizophrenia. He has been held at the Saskatoon Regional Psychiatric Center since his conviction. He believes he is the victim of a miscarriage of justice and is asking the Manitoba Court of Appeal to ignore the usual rule that a request for an appeal must be made no later than 30 days after a conviction.
I started to regain my health only two or three years ago, here at the Psychiatric Center, and I’m starting to realize what happened during my trialhe wrote in a motion filed with the court.
The lengthy and rambling affidavit raises questions about police conduct towards her during the lengthy investigation into Simone Sanderson’s murder. He also believes he was unable to participate fully in his own defense by not testifying at trial.
It all happened so fast that the trial ended before I even knew it had started and I was convicted.he said.
According to a summary of facts written by the presiding and sentencing judge, Kyllan Ellis and Simone Sanderson, who did not know each other, had a violent argument over a set of keys late on the night of 26 August 2012.
Simone Sanderson was strangled and stabbed. His body was then left under a cardboard box in a vacant lot at the corner of Main and Burrows Streets, until discovered a week later. Bones in his jaw and neck were broken and a knife covered in blood was found nearby.
Judge Chris Martin said there was no evidence to suggest Kyllan Ellis’ diagnosed schizophrenia played a role in the murder.
Kyllan Ellis filed two documents that in May 2019, the Legal Aid Society of Manitoba denied his request for funding to appeal. The denial was upheld by the agency’s executive director, after a review of the original decision.
Among the reasons cited, Legal Aid writes that it it’s much too late to appealand that Kyllan Ellis has no not demonstrated his intention to take this step.
This intent is one of the factors a court considers when deciding whether to allow an offender more time to appeal.
You must also provide a valid explanation for the delay and demonstrate that there are solid grounds justifying an appeal.
Crown prosecutors believe Kyllan Ellis’ motion should be dismissed.
His request is unclear and not based on any evidence other than his assertions, Crown prosecutor Melissa Carlson said in court documents. He has failed to establish the validity of these assertions and his motion should be dismissed.
A hearing will be held on July 7 to determine if Kyllan Ellis can get help from a court-appointed attorney to represent him.
Kyllan Ellis also filed a letter from a social worker asking for legal aid from Innocence Canada, an organization that supports possible cases of miscarriage of justice.
According to the letter, in addition to being denied legal aid funding, Kyllan Ellis unsuccessfully approached several lawyers and other agencies to ask them to represent him pro bono.
With information from James Turner
Radio Canada
Source: Radio-Canada
