It was a horrific crime with a conviction built around a dramatic confession.
Wade Skiffington admitted to fatally shooting his girlfriend in Richmond 25 years ago, but on Monday, he was back in court to ask a judge for his release.
He appeared in a Vancouver courtroom to request bail while his lawyers ask Ottawa to review what they're calling a miscarriage of justice.
Twenty-year-old Wanda Martin was fatally shot inside a Richmond apartment building in September 1994.
The only witness to the crime was Ian, the couple's 18-month old son, who sat in court behind his father on Monday.
About five years later, Skiffington became the subject of a so-called "Mr. Big" RCMP operation. The former carpet cleaner confessed to the killing, and in 2001, was convicted of second-degree murder.
The following year, however, his lawyers asked the justice minister to review his case. It was appealed through the court system, but the conviction held.
And in 2017, his lawyers made an application for ministerial review, asking the justice minister to personally examine the case. At the centre of their argument, and the reason they're asking for bail after the accused has spent 18 years behind bars, is the confession.
"Mr. Big" operations – elaborate stings conducted by undercover police officers – typically focus on grooming and gaining a target's trust, sometimes through violence and sex. In this case, specific details of the methods used to secure the confession are under a publication ban.
The technique was an accepted practice for years, but in 2014, a Supreme Court ruling made confessions inadmissible unless they met certain conditions.
"The Mr. Big technique comes at a price. Suspects confess to Mr. Big during pointed interrogations in the face of powerful inducements and sometimes veiled threats, and this raises the spectre of unreliable confessions," the ruling read in part.
Skiffington and his lawyers say his taped confession should never have been played in court, and they're now asking Jody Wilson-Raybould for one last chance at justice.
It could take two or more years for the justice minister to decide whether to send the original case back to court. In the meantime, Skiffington's asking a B.C. Supreme Court judge to let him out on bail with a promise to surrender when a decision is imminent.
The Crown will give its arguments in court Tuesday, and the ruling is expected later this week.
With a report from CTV Vancouver's David Molko
