B.C. man convicted in fatal Abbotsford hit and run gets new trial

British Columbia's Court of Appeal has ordered a new trial for a man convicted of running down another man in a heated altercation in a townhouse complex in Abbotsford, B.C.

A jury found Mario Delellis guilty of dangerous driving causing death and failing to stop at the scene of an accident in a March 2017 trial.

A lower court trial heard Delellis, Dwayne McCormick and two other men had a physical argument in July 2014 over a drug debt and that Delellis drove his vehicle into McCormick.

The man sustained several broken bones and while undergoing surgery he suffered cardiac arrest and later died.

A three-member appeal court panel has set aside the convictions and ordered a new trial on both counts.

The panel ruled the judge's instructions to the jury were faulty and that the jury wasn't adequately directed to consider the appellant's circumstances during the time of the incident, including that he was being physically and verbally harassed by more than one person.