Ontario farmer gets another shot at justice

Monday, November 3, 2014

In January 2013, a former American military sniper who now lives near St. Thomas, Ont., was convicted of careless use of a firearm after firing his gun to scare away a stray dog, The Canadian Press reports. But after a September decision by the Court of Appeal for Ontario, John Batty will be entitled to another trial.

In handing down its ruling, the Court of Appeal considered the implications a guilty verdict could have on rural residents. As Batty's lawyer put it, "(Farmers) can't be at risk of being convicted because somebody heard a shot." In his appeal, Batty pointed out his experience with firearms and his routine practice of shooting weasels and rats headed for the chicken coop.

This was Batty's second appeal. He lost the first one in December, even though there were no eyewitnesses to say how the gun was fired. BF