Cory Smockum: Sask. man gets new trial after court quashes attempted murder conviction [Video]

A man convicted of attempted murder after beating his partner in a drunken brawl is getting a new trial as Saskatchewan’s appeal court called the verdict the “product of a miscarriage of justice.”

Cory Smockum, 38, was charged with attempted murder, aggravated sexual assault and choking in connection to an incident involving his then-girlfriend on Oct. 13, 2018. He was found guilty of attempted murder in February 2020, but after 10 hours of deliberations, the jury of 12 could not come to a unanimous decision on the other two charges.

Smockum was later deemed a dangerous offender and handed an indeterminate sentence.

But in an Aug. 16 decision, a panel of three justices on the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal overturned the conviction and ordered a new trial. It says the jury was left with inadmissible and prejudicial evidence, and wasn’t adequately charged to consider Smockum’s claim of self defence.

According to Justice Georgina Jackson, Smockum …