police arrest murder suspect who went on the lam after second trial ordered
acquittal had been overturned on first-degree murder charge in the gun-for-hire killing of calgary resident ronnie olara obina
sep 13 2024
1 minute read
calgary police are seeking jessey james pearson, 37, wanted on a canada-wide warrant for first-degree murder.
photo courtesy calgary police service
murder suspect jessey james pearson, who went on the lam after alberta’s top court in july overturned his acquittal, has been arrested.
pearson appeared briefly in calgary court of king’s bench on friday where defence counsel tyson dahlem asked that the case be adjourned to oct. 5.
dahlem, appearing for pearson’s former lawyer, greg dunn, said dunn has not yet been retained by the accused for his second trial.
on july 8, a three-member alberta court of appeal panel overturned pearson’s acquittal on a charge of first-degree murder in the gun-for-hire killing of calgary resident ronnie olara obina.
the province’s top court ruled trial justice jim eamon erred when he ruled pearson’s confession in a mr. big undercover operation was inadmissible.
the appeal judges ordered pearson, 37, to turn himself in to the calgary remand centre pending his retrial, or an application for bail in the interim.
but after pearson failed to surrender, calgary police issued a warrant for his arrest , which had been outstanding until he was recently picked up.
because of eamon’s decision to keep pearson’s statement out of evidence at his initial trial, then-crown prosecutor doug taylor invited the court of king’s bench judge to acquit him on the murder trial, prior to proceeding to the trial of his co-accused, jayme scott denovan.
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on the same day the appeal court ordered a retrial for pearson they upheld denovan’s conviction for first-degree murder in the nov. 3, 2017, fatal shooting of obina in an alley in the city’s northwest.
denovan admitted ambushing obina and shooting him in the head after he was offered $14,000 and paid $4,000 by two unknown men to kill the victim.
after denovan had confessed to an undercover operative, officers asked denovan to arrange for a meeting with pearson where he later detailed his involvement in the case.
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