VANCOUVER — A British Columbia man found guilty in the death of a young girl in 1978 has lost an appeal of his first-degree murder conviction. GRAPHIC WARNING: The following details may be disturbing for some readers. A unanimous ruling by the B.C.
VANCOUVER — A British Columbia man found guilty in the death of a young girl in 1978 has lost an appeal of his first-degree murder conviction.A unanimous ruling by the B.C. court of appeal rejects Garry Handlen's argument that his confession of abducting, sexually assaulting and strangling 12-year-old Monica Jack was based on media reports and should not have been admitted at trial.
Handlen, who is now in his mid-70s, had already been convicted for other sexual assaults before telling an undercover officer that he was driving along a highway when he spotted Jack and that he burned her clothes and part of her body after killing her. Before he was sentenced, Jack’s family gave tearful victim-impact statements in court, saying decades without knowing what happened to the happy girl took an emotional toll on them and their community.