Warning: this story contains disturbing details and deals with suicide. If you need help, the AHS Mental Health Help Line can be reached at 1-877-303-2642. The Canada Suicide Prevention Service can be contacted at 1-833-456-4566. The Suicide Crisis Helpline is 988. Read More
Warning: this story contains disturbing details and deals with suicide. If you need help, the AHS Mental Health Help Line can be reached at 1-877-303-2642. The Canada Suicide Prevention Service can be contacted at 1-833-456-4566. The Suicide Crisis Helpline is 988. David Michael Moss has lost a bid to overturn his conviction for the brutal
Article content
Warning: this story contains disturbing details and deals with suicide. If you need help, the AHS Mental Health Help Line can be reached at 1-877-303-2642. The Canada Suicide Prevention Service can be contacted at 1-833-456-4566. The Suicide Crisis Helpline is 988.
Article content
David Michael Moss has lost a bid to overturn his conviction for the brutal murder of an Edmonton girl in her home five years ago.
Article content
Article content
Story continues below
Article content
The Alberta Court of Appeal on Friday issued its decision in the case of Moss, who was convicted of second-degree murder for the May 18, 2020, attack on seven-year-old Bella Rose Desrosiers.
Article content
Headline News
Article content
At trial, Moss sought a ruling of not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder (NCR), which would have seen him confined to a psychiatric hospital instead of prison. Court of King’s Bench Justice Steven Mandziuk rejected the defence and sentenced Moss to life without parole for at least 15 years. Mandziuk concluded the psychosis Moss experienced at the time of the murder was caused by his cannabis use and subsequent withdrawal — not a prior brain injury.
Article content
A three-justice Court of Appeal panel found no issue with Mandziuk’s reasoning and dismissed Moss’s appeal. They also shot down his bid to have his murder conviction replaced with manslaughter.
Article content
Story continues below
Article content
“The appellant (Moss) has failed to disclose any reviewable error, and the appeal is dismissed,” the court concluded.
Article content
Read More
-
David Michael Moss sentenced to life, no parole for 15 years for murder of 7-year-old Edmonton girl
-
Prosecutors seek 20-22 year parole ineligibility for man who murdered Edmonton girl
-
Advertisement embed-more-topic
Story continues below
Article content
Moss was a tattoo artist and father of four with a long history of marijuana use. He stopped using the drug five days before Desrosiers‘s murder, convinced he was experiencing a spiritual “awakening.” On the day of the murder, he contacted Desrosiers‘s mother Melissa Desrosiers, with whom he had reconnected after Bella Rose Desrosiers‘s father died by suicide. Moss told her he was himself suicidal, and she agreed to take him to hospital after arranging childcare.
Article content
While in the Desrosiers home, Moss grabbed a pair of scissors and appeared at the door of the girls’ bedroom in his underwear. He told Desrosiers he was “doing this for Ben,” her late husband, then attacked the girl.
Article content
Moss eventually dragged the girl downstairs and continued the attack. When he finished, he sat on the couch and waited for police.