Prosecutors have withdrawn a second-degree murder charge against Timothy Rees, weeks after Ontario’s top court set aside his conviction in the 1989 killing of a 10-year-old girl.
The Court of Appeal for Ontario last month ordered a new trial for Rees, but it was up to the Crown to decide whether to proceed with one.
Prosecutors said Thursday that in light of the appeal ruling and the passage of time, it was no longer in the public interest to try the case.
Rees’s defence lawyer, James Lockyer, previously said he hoped prosecutors would use their discretion to agree to enter an acquittal.
Rees was found guilty in 1990 of second-degree murder in the killing of Darla Thurrott and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 15 years.
He challenged his conviction but the appeal was dismissed in 1994, and the Supreme Court declined to hear his case.
Rees was released on day parole in 2009 and later granted full parole.
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