Alberta top court overturns 1st-degree murder convictions of Calgary man and woman

Alberta's top court has overturned two first-degreemurder convictions in a high-profile case involving the torture and killing of a man and the deaths of three others.

In a decision released Friday, the Alberta Court of Appeal saidthe judge in the trial of Tewodros Kebede and Yu Chieh Liao gave thejury misleading instructions about whether the killing of HanockAfowerk was planned and deliberate.

Afowerk's body was found in a ditch outside Calgary in July 2017.He had been bound, beaten, strangled and shot.

Three other bodies were found in Afowerk's burnt-out car at asuburban construction site. No murder charges have been laid inthose deaths.

Court heard that Afowerk's death was the culmination of a plot tokidnap him and extort him for money. The jury agreed with the Crownthat Afowerk's killing had been part of the plan from the start.

But the Appeal Court said the trial judge failed to explain thatwhile the kidnapping and beating had clearly been planned, Afowerk'skilling may not have been.

The court pointed out a text message sent by Kebede before thekilling, which read: "U up for the job tonight?"

That text was one of the chief pieces of evidence the Crownrelied on to prove Afowerk's killing was planned and deliberate. Itwas repeated as part of the trial judge's charge to the jury.

But the recipient of that message did not testify at the trial.The Appeal Court said that left Kebede's meaning unclear.

"It is as reasonable to infer that [the recipient] was beingrecruited only to kidnap, confine and extort, as it is to infer thathe was being recruited to kidnap, confine, extort and kill," saidthe judgment.

The court has given prosecutors the choice of substitutingverdicts of second-degree murder or beginning a new first-degreemurder trial for the defendants.

The successful appeal does not affect Kebede's and Liao'sconvictions involving the deaths of the other three victims.

Liao was found guilty of being an accessory in the murders ofCody Pfeiffer, Glynnis Fox and Tiffany Ear, whose remains were foundin Afowerk's charred car.

Kebede was convicted of being an accessory in Pfeiffer's murder.