OTTAWA – The Supreme Court of Canada says Dennis Oland was wrongly denied bail pending an appeal of his second-degree murder conviction.
The high court decision today could have influence beyond the high-profile New Brunswick case in which Oland was initially convicted of killing his father.
Well-known businessman Richard Oland was brutally murdered in his Saint John, N.B., office in July 2011, and his son Dennis, now 49, was convicted in 2015.
He appealed the conviction and sought release on bail but the request was turned down — a decision that was later affirmed by the New Brunswick Court of Appeal.
Oland was subsequently granted release by the same court last October, when a new trial was ordered after he had spent 11 months in prison.
Nevertheless, his lawyers continued to pursue the bail eligibility matter in the Supreme Court with the aim of clarifying the issue in cases that turn on the question of public confidence in the administration of justice.