Rayner to appeal murder conviction

John Rayner, found guilty on June 15 of the murder of Chrystal Beairsto in Charlottetown in 2002, is appealing his conviction.

In videotaped interviews with police, Rayner continually denied slaying Beairsto and hinted he had an alibi. But he never testified at his trial and no defence of any kind was put forward by his lawyer, Chris Manning.

Raynor filed documents on Wednesdayasking the court to let him appeal the first-degree murder conviction, offering several grounds for appeal:

• Considering videotaped statements as evidence.
• Considering conduct after slaying.
• Interpretation of 'reasonable doubt.'

Police were not able to find anyone who saw Rayner and Beairsto together, let alone on the Confederation Trail the day before Beairsto was found dead there.

Justice Wayne Cheverie, of the Supreme Court of P.E.I.,said that when he put the pieces together, the onlyreasonable conclusion he could reach was that Rayner was guilty.

Rayner is serving the mandatory life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years at Springhill Penitentiary in Nova Scotia. As things stand now, he won't be eligible for parole until 2030.

Rayner filed his own appeal papers with the court.

Manning is not currently representing him, but did say he would be meetingwith Rayner soon and might represent him for the appeal.