Manitoba’s highest court has overturned a manslaughter conviction for a Dauphin woman who fatally stabbed her daughter’s common-law partner, ruling the trial judge did not properly assess whether she had acted in self-defence.
Ramona Joan Tanner, 46, was sentenced last spring to five years in prison for the October 2020 death of 26-year-old Jeffrey Norman Thompson.
In convicting Tanner, King’s Bench Justice Sandra Zinchuk “failed to apply three relevant legal principles” relevant to a self-defence argument, Justice Jennifer Pfuetzner wrote in a recently released ruling by the Court of Appeal of Manitoba.
The appeal court ordered that a new trial be set for Tanner.
Court heard evidence at trial Thompson had been celebrating his birthday with his partner and other family members, including Tanner, when Tanner saw Thompson at a house party with another woman and accused him of cheating on her daughter.
“The historic relationship between the accused and the victim was fractious and marked by periodic arguments and physical fights after which they would make up,” Pfuetzner said.
After the confrontation, Thompson returned to his home, followed sometime later by his mother and Tanner. There, Tanner and Thompson, both of whom had been drinking, started arguing and shoving each other. When Tanner tried to call police, Thompson struck her several times on the forehead with the telephone receiver.
The two wrestled to the floor and continued fighting, with Tanner punching Thompson as his partner fled the house with their young son.
A witness testified Tanner and Thompson had separated and were not fighting when Thompson stood up and approached Tanner, motioning as if he were going to hit her. Tanner grabbed a knife from the kitchen and stabbed Thompson once in the chest.
After Thompson collapsed to the floor, Tanner called 911 and started performing CPR.
At trial, Tanner testified she had no memory of stabbing Thompson, and her lawyers Omri Plotnik and Scott Newman argued she was acting in self-defence.
Prosecutors conceded they could not disprove Thompson had a reasonable belief that a threat of force was being made against or that she stabbed Thompson for the purpose of defending herself.
“The primary issue at trial was whether the Crown had disproved the third element of self-defence under (the criminal code) beyond a reasonable doubt — that the act of stabbing the victim was reasonable in the circumstances,” Pfuetzner said.
In her ruling, Zinchuk found Tanner had other options available to her short of stabbing Tanner, including fleeing the kitchen outside, or threatening Tanner with the knife to stop his approach.
But it was not a requirement that Tanner attempt to flee before advancing a self-defence argument, Pfuetzner said.
“Moreover… the uncontroverted evidence was that the accused was effectively backed into a corner by the victim in a very small kitchen when he unexpectedly advanced toward her from about six feet away,” she said. “In our view, the prospect of escape was not a realistic one.”
Secondly, when responding to an imminent threat, an accused person is not required to “precisely calculate” their response, Pfuetzner said.
“In the present case, the trial judge expected a nuanced and finely calibrated response from the accused in a split-second reaction to an unexpected aggressive act of the victim,” she said.
Thirdly, Pfuetzner said, Zinchuk erred in finding that Tanner should have left the house prior to Thompson advancing on her.
“This assumes that the accused should have predicted that, after disengaging from the conflict, the victim would suddenly approach her in a threatening manner,” she said.
Tanner remains free on bail. No new trial date has been set.
dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca
Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter
Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.
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