Dylan Saddleback was convicted of second-degree murder in a judge alone trial. What was at issue on appeal was the trial judge’s use of statements made by the deceased during a phone call to a 3rd party, who testified at trial. The duration of that same phone call was important because the trial judge found that this is when the killing took place, as the 3rd party witness heard sounds on the phone consistent with the deceased, Joshua Dennehy, being beaten. The Alberta Court of Appeal found that the trial judge erred in law by using the deceased’s statement for a hearsay purpose, or in other words—for the truth of its contents— instead of the correct approach which should have been to solely rely on the statement as having been made. The majority of the Court of Appeal ordered a new trial. The dissenting justice disagreed, and would have dismissed the appeal on the basis that the trial judge used the deceased’s statement correctly in finding the accused guilty.

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