Travis Vader's lawyer predicts his client may win a new trial, which could lead to a stay of proceedings after what he calls an irreversible error by the Alberta judge in convicting Vader of two counts of second-degree murder. If an appeal is successful and a new trial ordered, the earliest the trial could occur is 2018 or 2019, Beresh said. That could be more than eight years after Lyle and Marie McCann went missing while driving to B.C. Beresh believes the extraordinary length of Vader's prosecution is an abuse of process under Section 11b of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. While Thomas ruled at the time that the defence had failed to make a case for abuse of process, he acknowledged it came close.

Source: CBC News September 16, 2016 12:00 UTC