A former Quesnel man now serving a life sentence for a murder in Whitehorse, Yukon, has been appointed an amicus after refusing to follow through on an appeal of his conviction.
An amicus is an impartial legal advisor asked to take part in a specific case. In September 2019, a jury found then 22-year-old Edward James Penner guilty of first-degree murder in the July 2017 shooting death of Adam Cormack, 27, whose body was found on a dirt road near a gravel pit north of Whitehorse.
Sentenced to life without eligibility for parole for 25 years, Penner filed an appeal roughly a month later. He was appointed legal counsel from the Yukon Legal Services Society who, in turn, filed transcripts and an appeal book with the court.
But Penner has since dismissed the counsel and has not been attending case management proceedings. The matter was then referred to the Yukon Court of Appeal for Justices to decide whether to dismiss the appeal.
In a decision issued May 17, a panel of three judges agreed to keep the matter before the court while appointing an amicus to review the merits of the appeal whether Penner "actively participates or not."
"In my view, it is not yet appropriate to dismiss this appeal for want of prosecution. Mr. Penner has been convicted of a most serious offence and faces the most significant sentence known to our law. In the circumstances I have outlined, at least one further accommodation must be afforded Mr. Penner," Chief Justice Robert Bauman wrote in the decision.
According to a summary of the previous counsel's submissions on the merits of Penner's appeal, circumstances leading to Penner's arrest "raised mental health concerns."
