Lawyer for deported woman who drowned her sons says Alberta bungled case

EDMONTON – The lawyer for a woman ordered deported after serving time for drowning her children says Alberta’s attorney general bungled the file.

Peter Royal says Jonathan Denis (rhymes with TENNIS) knew for almost six months that Allyson McConnell was going to be sent back to her native Australia when her sentence expired last week.

McConnell was found guilty a year ago of killing her two children, but a Crown appeal of the sentence and conviction has yet to be heard.

Royal, in a letter to the Edmonton Journal, says the Crown did not ask for the appeal to be heard sooner and missed deadlines for filing background material with the court.

Royal also suggests that Denis is violating the impartiality of his job by suggesting the six-year sentence McConnell received was too lenient.

Federal Public Safety Minister Vic Toews (TAVES) has also said the province dropped the ball by not asking for a quicker appeal hearing, but Denis says his office has done everything by the book.