Man convicted of sexual assault gets new trial after ‘miscarriage of justice’

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/02/2017 (3496 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Note: Subsequent to the publication of this story, the Crown attorney issued a stay in this matter, saying there was “no reasonable likelihood of conviction.”

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A Winnipeg man convicted of sexual assault will get a new trial after the province’s highest court ruled his lawyer gave him “ineffective assistance.”

Robert Zamrykut was sentenced to 30 months in prison after being convicted of forcing intercourse on a woman he met at a bar and took to a friend’s residence. But the conviction was quashed Thursday in an unanimous ruling by three Manitoba Court of Appeal justices.

Justice Holly Beard, in a nine-page written decision, said Zamrykut convinced them he had been the victim of a “miscarriage of justice” because of the “ineffective assistance” of lawyer Dan Manning during his trial in June.

“While the trial counsel had a trial strategy, it was a strategy that was doomed to fail from the start, could only be described as unreasonable and did not ‘fall within the wide range of reasonable professional assistance,'” Beard wrote.

But Beard added a ruling of ineffective assistance against a lawyer doesn’t mean the lawyer was “incompetent.”

“Even the best counsel can, over the course of a career, fall into error in a particular case, such that he or she has provided ineffective assistance in that case that undermined the reliability of the verdict and resulted in a miscarriage of justice,” Beard said.

Justices Michel Monnin and Freda Steel agreed with the decision.

Defence counsel Richard Wolson, who was hired by Zamrykut after he was convicted, but before the sentencing took place, said his client is relieved.

“He has always maintained his innocence,” Wolson said. “He will have a new trial and we’ll strongly litigate his case.”

Manning could not be reached for comment.

But in the Appeal Court decision, Beard noted Manning filed documents explaining his strategy at the trial, included avoiding cross-examination on inconsistencies, not calling Zamrykut’s friend to testify in case he said something to hurt the case, and not questioning the alleged victim on inconsistencies between her initial statement to police — when her boyfriend was there — and other statements she made in court.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca