Man convicted of killing Misha Pavelick files appeal

The man convicted and sentenced in the 2006 killing of Misha Pavelick, 19, at a graduation party near Regina Beach, Sask., is appealing his conviction, but not his sentence.

The man, who was 17 at the time of the killing and cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, was found guilty of second-degree murder last November after a jury heard testimony from more than 30 witnesses and saw evidence including photos, DNA analysis and an autopsy report.

Last month, Regina Court of King’s Bench Justice Catherine Dawson ruled the man, now 37, would be sentenced as a youth.

He was given a seven-year sentence, the maximum for a youth guilty of second-degree murder, and is to spend the next four years in custody, followed by three years under supervision.

In a notice of appeal to the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal dated July 6, the appellant argues the trial judge “erred in law” in her charge to the jury “by not presenting the evidence and the positions of the parties in a fair and balanced manner and, in particular, by reviewing the elements of the offence and the evidence relating to those elements in a manner that unduly favoured the Crown.”

The appellant also argues the trial judge erred in law in her instructions and rulings respecting the use of the evidence and “by commenting upon defence counsel’s closing address in a manner that was unfairly prejudicial to the defence, including by telling the jury that a phrase used by defence counsel was not appropriate.”

The notice of appeal argues the judge erred in law in the preparation and delivery of the jury charge, including by failing to provide counsel with the full proposed charge with enough time to permit meaningful review and submissions before the charge was delivered and “by delivering an inadequate and/or erroneous instruction on circumstantial evidence.”

The appellant’s lawyer, Andrew Hitchcock, declined an interview request.

Pavelick was fatally stabbed on May 21, 2006, during a graduation party at the Kinookimaw Campground, about 45 kilometres northwest of Regina.

The violent brawl that led to the stabbing centred on a dispute between Pavelick, his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend, Andrew Perkins, who was friends with the man who later stabbed Pavelick.

No arrest was made until 2023.

The notice of appeal says if a new trial is ordered, the man convicted in Pavelick’s killing wishes to be tried by judge alone.

It says he is currently serving his sentence at Saskatchewan Penitentiary, just outside Prince Albert.