Lascene Edwards, a former policeman who was sentenced to life imprisonment for shooting the mother of his child in 2003, has lost his fight to get his conviction overturned by the Court of Appeal.
He was successful, however, in getting a reduction in time to be served before becoming eligible for parole.
Edwards was convicted in 2013, ten years after the incident which took place at the home of his girlfriend Aldonna Harris-Vasquez. She was shot in the head with his service pistol one day when he visited her.
He had reported that she committed suicide and that a note was left behind. This story was rejected by the jury and he was sentenced to life in prison.
The Appeal was heard in 2016 but the judgment was only recently published.
Edwards challenged both the conviction and sentence, arguing that he had received an unfair trial.
His appeal was argued on several grounds, including a claim that the evidence against him was deficient, that the handwriting expert evidence was weak, and that there was unfairness and incompleteness in the Judge's summation. He also argued that several delays and missing evidence further contributed to prejudice against him.
But the Court of Appeal decided that the delays and missing evidence did not amount to overall prejudice against Edwards.
It also found that the Judge's summation was adequate.
The Court of Appeal ruled however that it could not see how the trial Judge arrived at a conclusion about becoming eligible for parole after 35 years, so it set aside that sentence.
It then imposed the same sentence of life in prison, but varied the years for becoming eligible for parole from 35 years to 20 years, with the sentence commencing in November 2013.
This means Edwards could be on parole in 2033.
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