Alberta Appeal Court orders third trial for parents in toddler’s death

Alberta’s top court has ordered a third trial for a couple originally convicted then found not guilty in the death of their ill son.

The Alberta Court of Appeal has granted a request by the Crown to overturn the 2019 acquittal of David and Collet Stephan.

The Stephans were accused of not seeking medical attention sooner for 19-month-old Ezekiel, who had meningitis when he died in 2012.

A jury convicted the couple in 2016, but the Supreme Court of Canada overturned that verdict and ordered a second trial at which a judge acquitted them.