The lawyer for a Red Deer man found guilty of wounding his ex-girlfriend’s father with a knife is trying to overturn his conviction.
Andrew Phypers said on Thursday he formally filed an appeal of the aggravated assault conviction handed down to Linden Joseph Lee Buffalo.
It will likely take about a year for the Alberta Court of Appeal to rule on the appeal, said Phypers.
Red Deer Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Marilyn Slawinsky found Buffalo guilty last May of aggravated assault for a knife wound afflicted on Travis Peterson towards the end of a brawl in Buffalo’s home on Aug. 6, 2017.
Peterson had been called earlier by his daughter, Shalyn Peterson, who was then Buffalo’s girlfriend. After a night of drinking, the pair got into an argument that escalated to the point Shalyn tried to phone police.
Buffalo smashed her phone before she could get through. She then locked herself in a bathroom and contacted her father on her iPad and asked him to come and help.
When Travis Peterson arrived, he climbed on top of Buffalo, who was lying in bed, and punched him once in the face.
As Peterson left the room, Buffalo stabbed him in the neck and hip. The two continued to scuffle as they made their way to the kitchen, where Peterson’s hand was cut as he tried to ward off a knife blow.
Peterson, his daughter and her young son, then fled the home.
In her decision, Slawinsky said the evidence of aggravated assault could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt on the first two stabbings.
Attacked in his bed by an intruder, Buffalo’s violent response was not unreasonable, given that there was no evidence Buffalo knew at first it was Shalyn’s father who punched him, said the judge.
However, Buffalo’s continued attack on Travis Peterson, who had identified himself and repeatedly called Buffalo by name, was “unreasonable and excessive.”
That brawl led to Peterson’s sliced hand and constituted aggravated assault, she said.
Buffalo’s family and other supporters were unhappy with the decision, saying Buffalo acted in self defence and should not have been convicted.
Kim Beaudin, national vice-chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, flew from Ottawa to support the Buffalo family when Linden was sentenced last December to 60 days in prison. That was satisfied by time he had already served in custody.
Beaudin shared the family’s view that Buffalo had not been treated fairly.
pcowley@reddeeradvocate.com
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