N.S. murder case headed to Supreme Court of Canada

The case of a Nova Scotia man found guilty of murdering another man in Dartmouth, N.S., in October 2010 is on its way to the Supreme Court of Canada as he seeks to have his conviction overturned.

Randy Desmond Riley is serving a life sentence, with no chance of parole for 15 years, for second-degree murder in the killing of Donald Chad Smith, 27. He was found guilty by a jury in April 2018.

Riley had pleaded not guilty and his trial was marked by controversy involving an accomplice, Nathan Johnson, who had been already tried before Riley and had been convicted of first-degree murder in Smith's death.

The Crown called Johnson to testify at Riley's trial, where he told the jury that Riley wasn't involved at all and that he (Johnson) had acted alone.

Evidence at the trials of the two men showed that Riley had a grudge against Smith and plotted to kill him. They discovered that Smith had just started a job delivering pizzas for a restaurant in north-end Dartmouth.

The two men placed a pizza order from a pay phone in the neighbourhood, asking that it be delivered to a nearby apartment complex. When Smith showed up, he was hit at close range by a single shotgun blast which left a gaping hole in his chest and shoulder. The two gunmen fled the area on foot, disposing of the weapon in a nearby culvert.

Special jury instructions

The content of Johnson's testimony at Riley's trial was unexpected and prompted Justice James Chipman to issue a special caution to the jury, warning it was dangerous to rely on Johnson's evidence unless it was confirmed by other evidence.

That testimony and the special instructions formed the basis of Riley's appeal to the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal. It denied Riley's appeal and ruled earlier this month that Chipman had made no errors in his instructions.

However, the court decision was not unanimous. Justice Ted Scanlon dissented, saying he would have granted Riley's appeal and ordered a new trial on a charge of second-degree murder.

That split decision gives Riley an automatic right to take his case to the Supreme Court of Canada, and on Tuesday his lawyer, Trevor McGuigan, confirmed that appeal to the country's highest court is going ahead.