Ontario’s top court has upheld convictions against Dellen Millard and Mark Smich for killing a 23-year-old woman, marking back-to-back appeals dismissed this week against the multiple murderers.
The decision in the murder case of Laura Babcock comes a day after the Court of Appeal for Ontario upheld convictions against the two men for the 2013 murder of 32-year-old Tim Bosma.
For Millard, the heir to an aviation fortune turned infamous murderer, the decision caps a trio of unsuccessful appeals after the court also dismissed his attempt to overturn his conviction for murdering his father.
In a 125-paragraph decision on the Babcock appeal, the courtdismissed Millard’s argument he was denied a fair trial because he needed more time to retain a lawyer and dismissed Smich’s argument the jury was not properly instructed on how to separate the evidence between the two men.
The 2017 trial for Babock’s murder saw prosecutors argue the once close friends turned co-accused were motivated to kill Babcock to settle a love triangle between her, Millard and his then-girlfriend.
In the lead-up to Babcock’s disappearance in July 2012, Millard sent texts to his then-girlfriend telling her he would hurt Babcock and remove her from their lives, before acquiring a gun and an incinerator.
