Saskatchewan appeal court upholds conviction of man in wife’s murder

REGINA — Saskatchewan’s highest court has rejected an appeal from a man convicted of killing his wife.

David Woods of Saskatoon went to the Court of Appeal after jurors convicted him in 2014 of first-degree murder in the death of Dorothy Woods.

She disappeared in November 2011 and her body was discovered nearly two months later in a culvert near Blackstrap Lake, a 40-minute drive south of Saskatoon.

Woods’s lawyer, James Streeton, says he raised issues during an appeal court hearing last fall that should have led to a new trial or a second-degree murder decision.

He argued Woods’s trial lawyer was ineffective and the judge erred in instructing the jury about text messages entered as evidence.

The unanimous appeal court decision found there was no miscarriage of justice.

The Canadian Press