CALGARY — The defence has made its arguments in the appeal of a man who killed a college student when he rammed his pickup truck into a group of people outside a bar in west-central Alberta.
Jeffrey Leinen of Calgary was convicted in December 2011 of second-degree murder and aggravated assault in a crash outside the Texas Mickey Bar in Olds.
Nicholas Baier, an 18-year-old student at Olds College, was killed and another student was injured.
Defence lawyer Jennifer Ruttan outlined four main arguments before the Alberta Court of Appeal.
One of them questioned whether the judge’s charge to the jury properly accounted for the possibility that the October 2010 crash was an accident.
Leinen, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison, is appealing his conviction and the sentence.
Witnesses testified at Leinen’s trial that he had been kicked out of the bar for fighting and that Baier was standing outside with friends when he was hit.
Leinen was arrested a short distance from the bar after his truck crashed.