TORONTO – A former pastor in Toronto has lost an appeal against his sentence for manslaughter by drowning his pregnant wife.
The Ontario Court of Appeals also rejected Philip Grandin’s appeal against the 15-year sentence handed down to him in January 2020.
Grandin was released on bail days after his conviction, while he appealed his sentence after his second trial.
His wife, Anna Carissa Grandin, was 20 weeks pregnant when she drowned in the couple’s bathtub in 2011.
Tests later revealed that the 29-year-old woman had lorazepam, a sedative better known as Ativan, in her blood, although it had not been prescribed. The court heard that she found out that her husband had a love affair.
Philip Grandein was initially charged with first-degree murder and convicted of manslaughter in 2014, but won a new trial on his first appeal. He was convicted again in February 2019 and is appealing again after being convicted.
The Court of Appeals overturned Grandin’s conviction and appeals in a ruling released Monday.
In his second appeal, Grandin raised three grounds against his sentence.
He claims that the judge made a mistake in some of her instructions to the jury regarding whether he knew that his wife had taken the sedative, but did not take steps to ensure her safety.
He also claims that the pre-trial judge made a mistake by refusing to exclude evidence of computer searches, including the word “autopsy”, which suggests that it has little value in re-examination and is “prejudicial”.
Grandin further claims that the judge gave the jurors “inadequate instructions” to use out-of-court statements he made after the event if he found that such statements were false.
In appealing his sentence, the former pastor claimed, among other things, that the judge had made the mistake of convicting him as if he had been convicted of murder and that the sentence was “harsh and excessive.”
The Court of Appeal rejected Grandin’s arguments and wrote that “there is no reason to interfere in the sentence”, which is “appropriate and reasonable” in all circumstances.
A few days before his death, Grandin’s wife suddenly experienced a number of symptoms that she could not explain and had to be taken to hospital, Grandin heard in the process. She passed several tests, but was released as her symptoms faded, the court heard.
A few days later, she drowned in the bathtub, and investigators later tested her blood samples from the hospital, which were later found to contain Ativan.
In his sentencing, Supreme Court Justice Faye McWatt said Grandin was motivated by greed and ill-will for his wife.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on May 9, 2022.
This story was created with the financial support of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.
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