Prince George, B.C.- The B.C. Court of Appeal has dismissed the appeal launched by Denis Ratte.

 

In November of 2010, a jury found Ratte guilty of the second degree murder  of his wife, Wendy.

 

Wendy Ratte was 44 years old when she disappeared August 18^th 1997. Her van was discovered in the parking lot of what was at the time, an Overwaitea grocery store on Spruce Street in Prince George. Her remains have not been found.

After a trial that took 4 weeks, the jury took just four hours to reach a verdict of guilty.

 

Ratte alleged three issues as his grounds for appeal of his conviction:

 

First, that the trial judge erred in law by allowing the Crown to adduce evidence of his character through his daughter when he had not put his character in issue.  Second, the trial judge erred in law in allowing a police officer to state her opinion that Ms. Ratté had never left the Prince George area on the day that she disappeared. Third, the trial judge erred in law by allowing inadmissible and prejudicial hearsay evidence from three witnesses. His appeal alleged that in each case, the trial judge erred in law by not giving a limiting instruction in respect of the evidence.

 

In a unanimous decision, the three Justices of the Court of Appeal, dismissed the appeal. The Court found that the trial judge did not err in admitting certain alleged character evidence, as that evidence was admissible without a limiting instruction. The Court also found there was no error in the admission of certain hearsay evidence, as counsel, for “sound tactical reasons”, had decided that that evidence would be admitted for its truth, regardless of the fact that it was hearsay. The Court did find error in the admission of certain non-expert opinion evidence, but upheld the conviction as it determined that, in the context of the case, the error was harmless.

 

Ratte was sentenced to life and must serve at least 15 years before being eligible for parole consideration.