Law360 Canada ( December 20, 2024, 10:59 AM EST) -- Appeal by appellant from a second-degree murder conviction for the killing of Gerard. The appellant was charged with second-degree murder for beating Gerard to death inside his apartment. He pled guilty to manslaughter, accepting he unlawfully caused Gerard's death but disputing he had the intention to murder. He relied heavily on evidence of his intoxication to argue he lacked the specific intent for murder. The Crown argued the totality of circumstances, including the appellant's actions and witness observations, pointed toward him having the requisite intent despite intoxication. The jury found the appellant guilty of second-degree murder. He then appealed his conviction on several grounds related to the jury instructions. The appellant argued that the trial judge committed a reversible legal error by failing to provide the full anti-bias instruction requested at trial, thereby failing to link the juror's obligation to act impartially with the fact that the appellant was Indigenous. He argued that harmful stereotypical assumptions about Indigenous people and alcohol might have influenced the jurors....