Law360 Canada (December 18, 2020, 6:11 AM EST) -- Appeal by three accused from conviction for first-degree murder. The victim was kidnapped and held by armed men for several hours. His hands and feet were bound with duct tape and zip ties. He was shot twice in the head, at close range, with a small-caliber firearm. After that, a hand saw was used to decapitate and dismember his body. The body parts were transported and disposed of. The appellant Theodore argued that he did not receive a fair trial because the trial judge failed to ensure that jurors were properly screened for racial bias and failed to properly instruct jurors on the need to set aside biases, prejudices and stereotypical views about Indigenous persons. Two of the appellants were Indigenous. Theodore was non-Indigenous. The victim was also Indigenous. Theodore argued that racism was so widespread and pervasive in Saskatchewan that there existed an air of reality that jurors would be biased against his co-accused because they are Indigenous. The appellants Bellegarde and Gordon argued that the trial judge’s final instructions to the jury were cumbersome and confusing, failed to properly explain certain aspects of the law and were not functionally adequate. Bellegarde also argued that the trial judge erred by permitting a key Crown witness to testify from a remote location. Because of the nature of the witness’s association to the appellants which stemmed from their mutual involvement in the world of gangs and drug trafficking, the witness feared being subjected to intimidation and violent reprisal if she were required to attend court to give her evidence in person....