Crown appeals prison term for trucker convicted in killing of woman in Edmonton hotel

EDMONTON — Crown prosecutors are appealing a 12 1/2-year sentence given to an Ontario truck driver found guilty in the killing of a woman in his Edmonton hotel room.

Bradley Barton was sentenced in July for manslaughter in the death of Cindy Gladue, a Métis and Cree woman who bled to death in a bathtub at the Yellowhead Inn in June 2011.

Medical experts testified the mother of three had four times the legal limit of alcohol in her system when Barton performed a sexual act that caused a severe wound to her vagina.

It was the second trial for Barton after a jury found him not guilty in 2015 of first-degree murder in Gladue’s death, sparking rallies and calls for justice for Indigenous women across the country.

Both the Alberta Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada ordered a new trial.

The Crown says in a notice of appeal that the trial judge in the second trial erred in his consideration of aggravating and mitigating factors and that 12 1/2 years is “demonstrably unfit.”

“The sentence imposed is not proportional to the gravity of the offence and the moral blameworthiness of the offender,” says the notice.

On the day of Barton’s sentencing, defence lawyer Dino Bottos told media that he planned to appeal the conviction.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 16, 2021.

The Canadian Press