A woman whose murder charge in the beating death of a 16-year-old boy was overturned last month will now be allowed to wait for her new trial outside of jail.
Katherine Quinn, 26, has been granted bail by a B.C. Court of Appeal judge. It comes a month after B.C.'s top court overturned her second-degree murder conviction in the 2005 death of Matthew Martins.
The decision sparked outrage from Martins' family. Sandra Martins-Toner, who clutched a photo of her son, burst into tears yesterday as the ruling came down.
"What I want everyone to know today is not only has the criminal justice system failed my beautiful child, they have failed all of you," she told reporters. "... Don't ever have faith or hope that the justice system is there to defend your child, who you've lost to a vicious and callous crime."
A B.C. Supreme Court jury originally found Quinn guilty of second-degree murder in Martins' death. Her co-accused, Robert Forslund, was also convicted.
A panel of three appeal judges overturned Quinn's conviction last month, ruling the trial judge had erred in his instructions to the jury.
