A month after Millet mother Allyson McConnell was found guilty of manslaughter in the deaths of her two sons; the Crown has filed an appeal, saying the judge made a mistake in finding her not guilty of second-degree murder.
On May 9th, the Crown Prosecutor asked for a sentence of 12 years for McConnell.
"It was not a momentary lapse of judgement," The Crown Prosecutor argued. "It was a clear decision to end a life. A decision she made twice."
Now the Crown is appealing the manslaughter charge against McConnell. The Crown would like the charge of murder reinstated. They say the judge made several mistakes throughout the trial.
Court documents argue the murder charges should stand. The Crown listed four grounds of appeal.
"It's felt that the judge made some legal errors in the analysis of the evidence on the grounds of the issue of intent, and on reasonable doubt," Jason Maloney with Alberta Justice and the Solicitor General's office said.
Lawyers argue the judge allowed an expert witness to testify without evidence to prove his opinion.
The Crown also argues the trial judge erred in deciding that McConnell was incapable to form the intent to commit murder because she was under the influence of a prescription drug and alcohol at the time.
Initially, McConnell was charged with second-degree murder, but the charges were downgraded.
On the morning of February 1, 2010 McConnell drove to Edmonton, parked at a toy store, had lunch and then tried to kill herself by jumping off a bridge onto a busy freeway.
During the trial court also heard her estranged husband, Curtis McConnell, pulled the lifeless bodies of his little boys from a tub of freezing cold water that night. He testified he frantically ran to get a neighbour to come and look in the bathroom, just in case he had imagined the whole thing.
Curtis McConnell said their divorce had been bitter and they had fought over custody of the boys, whom McConnell wanted to take back to Australia with her.
McConnell's was scheduled to appear in court on June 4th for sentencing on the manslaughter convictions. A hearing for the appeal has not yet been scheduled.
With files from Sean Amato
