The Crown has decided to appeal the recent acquittal of a man who had been accused of killing two people and seriously injuring two others while driving drunk.
Nicholas Villeneuve had been charged with two counts of impaired driving causing death and two counts of impaired driving causing bodily harm following the collision west of Gander on July 7, 2019.
In a statement today, Public Prosecutions says it has identified legal errors in the rulings that led to Villeneuve’s acquittal. They say, as a result, an appeal will be filed at the Newfoundland and Labrador Court of Appeal.
All eight charges against Nicholas Villeneuve were dismissed after key evidence was thrown out because the judge said police violated his rights.
The 2019 head-on collision near Gander took the lives of John and Sandra Lush, seriously injured their daughter, and left her boyfriend with burns and paralyzed from the waist down.
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February 2, 2021 – Dismissal of Charges in Fatal Crash a ‘Miserable’ Failure of Justice System, says Victim
February 3, 2021 – Dismissal of Charges ‘Sickening’ but Not Surprising, says Local MADD President
January 7, 2021 – Judge Orders Exclusion of Some Evidence Ahead of Drunk-Driving Trial of Gander Man
