Newfoundland man appeals conviction in wife’s killing after Mr. Big sting
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ST. JOHN’S – A Newfoundland man convicted of killing his estranged wife has filed an appeal in a high-profile case that involved an elaborate police sting operation.
The Newfoundland and Labrador Court of Appeal has confirmed Dean Penney recently filed the appeal of his conviction by a jury of first-degree murder in the death of Jennifer Hillier-Penney, whose body has yet to be found.
Dean Penney was sentenced to life in prison on Sept. 11 after a trial in Corner Brook that focused on evidence gathered during what police describe as a Mr. Big sting.
Confessions from this type of police operation are typically presumed to be inadmissible after the Supreme Court of Canada decision in 2014 said they were unreliable.
In Dean Penney’s case, the presiding judge decided in May that the confession of the accused was reliable.
The court heard that Penney believed he had been asked to be the captain of a crime boss’s yacht when he confessed to the killing.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 28, 2026.