The son of Carol Ann Berner has been found not guilty of murder following his second trial in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver.
Late Thursday, after two days of deliberations, a jury found Joshua Berner not guilty of the February 2009 second-degree murder of Benjamin Warland, 23, in Richmond.
Jury deliberations are confidential and cannot be revealed but during the trial, jurors heard a claim by Berner that he was acting in self-defence.
Berner was initially convicted of second-degree murder following a jury trial in October 2010.
At that trial he testified that the incident began when the two men got off a bus near Cambie and Dallyn Roads. Warland followed Berner, 27, and a friend and approached the two men, punching Berner's friend from behind, knocking him unconscious before pulling a knife, Berner testified.
During the ensuing tussle, Warland suffered several stab wounds, including one to the head. Berner suffered a stab wound to his thigh. The knife was never recovered.
The trial judge, who sentenced Berner to the mandatory life in prison with no parole eligibility for 10 years, noted that although it was an intentional killing, it was more of a spontaneous brawl than a calculated act on the part of the accused.
Berner appealed the verdict and in April 2012, the B.C. Court of Appeal overturned the conviction and ordered a new trial.
The court found that the trial judge committed a significant legal error in failing to instruct the jury that the accused's conduct after the slaying had no bearing on the issue of whether he had sufficient intent to commit murder.
Carol Ann Berner was convicted in July 2010 of impaired driving causing the death of four-year-old Alexa Middelaer.
She received a 2½-year jail term. She appealed both the sentence and the conviction, but both appeals were dismissed.
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