APTN National News
Connie Oakes always maintained her innocence.
Through hours of police interrogations and a murder trial, her resolve never wavered — she did not kill Casey Armstrong in 2011.
At her trial by jury, the Crown presented little evidence. There was no DNA, fingerprints, no motive.
The only evidence offered by Crown Andrea Dolan against Oakes was the testimony of Wendy Scott.
Scott signed an agreed statement of fact that she helped Oakes with the murder. But she has issues.
Scott, who has an IQ of 50, admitted to lying to police during her interrogation, and under oath at trial (as it turns out, Alberta’s Appeals court quashed Scott’s conviction of the murder and ordered a new trial).
The Medicine Hat, Alberta jury came back with a guilty verdict. Half of the jurors asked that the judge hand Oakes the harshest sentence possible. There were no First Nations people on the jury.
Oakes was given a life sentence with no chance for parole for 14 years. She was then transported to the Edmonton Institute for Women.
Here is the story that started Connie Oakes on her road to freedom.
