New trial ordered for Parsons Pond woman accused of killing teenager with her car in 2017
Neila Blanchard was acquitted in 2019
The provincial court of appeal has ordered a new trial for a Parsons Pond woman accused of killing a teenager with her car as he walked to school in 2017.
Neila Blanchard, 58, had been charged with one count of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death.
Justin Hynes, 17, was walking to school in Cow Head when he was struck and killed on Sept. 11, 2017.
The case went to trial in 2019, and Blanchard was acquitted. Justice Valerie Marshall said at the time that the Crown attorney had successfully proven that Blanchard's driving was dangerous, but not the "mens rea" — the criminal intent required for a conviction.
The Crown appealed the acquittal, alleging Marshall made errors in her treatment of evidence and the application of law and that the errors impacted the ruling.
According to the decision released by the Court of Appeal Wednesday, Justice Lois Hoegg said Marshall's decision did not include evidence as to why Blanchard was driving dangerously on the day Justin was killed.
The judge also made comments that Blanchard may have been "momentarily distracted," which the decision says were not based on evidence.
The court found that Blanchard's vehicle left the road while travelling south on Cow Head's main road, struck a museum sign in the town, and continued toward Justin, hitting him only seconds later.
"The judge's legal errors in this case go the root of whether Ms. Blanchard's driving satisfied the modified objective standard required to convict," Hoegg said in the decision.
"As well, her piecemealing of the evidence led her to disregard evidence that bore directly on whether Ms. Blanchard's driving met the modified objective standard."
Hoegg added she believes Marshall's errors played a key role in the decision to acquit, leading to a call for a new trial.