A British Columbia man whom a Whitehorse jury found guilty of first-degree murder earlier this fall for the 2017 slaying of Adam Cormack is appealing his conviction.
Edward James Penner filed a notice to the Yukon Court of Appeal on Oct. 17. He’s seeking an appeal on the grounds that his “conviction was unreasonable” as well as anything else that may be identified after a review of trial transcripts.
A 12-person jury found Penner guilty of first-degree murder on Sept. 19 following a roughly two-week-long trial and about a day and a half of deliberations.
The Crown had told the jury that Penner, in a planned and deliberate fashion, shot 25-year-old Cormack in the head on a dirt trail near a gravel pit off Kilometre 1450 of the Alaska Highway in June 2017.
The murder was apparently triggered over a stolen or missing gun.
A passerby found Cormack’s body on June 28, 2017; Penner was arrested and charged with first-degree murder a few days later.
Penner had pleaded not guilty.
A first-degree murder conviction comes with an automatic sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.
The notice of appeal states that, should a new trial be ordered, Penner wants it to be in front of a jury again.
(Jackie Hong)