by Matt Day
Ottawa Sun
Two weeks after he was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of a Vanier sex worker who was killed with an axe, Adrian Daou has filed an appeal.
The 24-year-old aspiring rap star, who once said he believed a criminal lifestyle would get him some street cred, filed the appeal of his conviction in the death of Jennifer Stewart last week, said his lawyer, Bob Carew.
At trial, Daou’s lawyers had tried to portray him as a delusional schizophrenic, unable to know right from wrong.
They tried, and failed, to convince the jury he should be found not criminally responsible.
The appeal document outlines eight grounds on which it is being made. Most notable is how an audio recording of the Daou’s court appearance on an unrelated charge of attempted murder in Gatineau was admitted into evidence by the judge.
“It’s pretty prejudicial evidence,” Carew said.
Typically, the Crown can’t introduce past criminal records to the jury in an unrelated trial.
Carew said observations made by a psychiatrist and psychologist were also not admitted into evidence.
“(The psychologist) said he was observing Daou experiencing auditory hallucinations,” Carew said. “When he’s experiencing that right around the time of his confession, how good is that confession when it’s from a guy who is having hallucinations?”
Daou initially got the murder weapon wrong when he took responsibility for the crime in February 2013 while at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre serving time for an unrelated offence.
Daou also told the psychiatrist U.S. President Barack Obama and the CIA were behind messages he heard on a radio at a restaurant giving him “weird ideas.”
The appeal form states the judge did not admit evidence of medications Daou was taking prescribed by his psychiatrist.
“It’s an accumulation of errors that tipped the scales,” Carew contended.
Daou still has to get approval from legal aid, Carew said, before the appeal process continues. If it goes through, he said, a new trial may not start for about a year.