Custodial dad, stepmother want new trial for beating death of 7-year-old son (Ontario, Canada)

Custodial dad EDWARD "TONY" DOOLEY and his new wife, the stepmother, are asking for a new trial. They were previously convicted of second-degree murder in the brutal abuse of dad's 7-year-old son in 1998. The boy's mother, who lived in Jamaica, had sent the child to dad in Canada just months before his death because she had hoped the boy would "have a better life" in Canada. In retrospect, the poor little boy would have been better off with his loving mother in Jamaica than with these two sickos.

http://www.thestar.com/gta/crime/article/697160

Parents in beating death of boy, 7, want new trial

Toronto neighbourhood crime maps Crime Stoppers Sep 17, 2009 12:55 PM
Allison Jones
THE CANADIAN PRESS

The "evil stepmother" and "coward" father convicted of second-degree murder in what the judge called one of the worst cases of child abuse in Canadian history are appealing their convictions and asking for a new trial.

More than seven years after their trial, which detailed horrific injuries seven-year-old Randal Dooley endured as a result of brutal beatings, lawyers for Marcia and Edward "Tony" Dooley will be appealing to Ontario's top court starting Monday.

Months of abuse left Randal incontinent and unable to keep food down before his death in September 1998. Along with a tapestry of scars and bruises, a post-mortem on Randal's emaciated, 40-pound body discovered 13 broken ribs, a lacerated liver and a tooth in his stomach.

At the 2002 trial, Marcia Dooley, whom the trial judge labelled Randal's "cruel, vengeful and evil stepmother," was characterized as the primary abuser. Testimony described thrashings she inflicted on the boy and one instance when she forced him to eat his vomit. She was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 18 years.

Her husband, Tony Dooley, was sentenced to life with no chance of parole for 13 years.

The judge described him as a "coward" for "ignoring Randal's plight as Marcia's whipping boy."

Prominent defence lawyer Marie Henein is representing Marcia Dooley and has advanced several grounds in her appeal. She charges the judge erred in instructions to the jury about prior abuse.

"The repugnant evidence of prior abuse...could only have aroused the jury's emotions, thereby potentially deflecting them from a dispassionate and rational assessment of the evidence without meaningful guidance as to its relevance in the context of the case," Henein writes.

Documents filed with Ontario's Court of Appeal also show Marcia Dooley is appealing her sentence because of the disparity between the couple's parole eligibility lengths.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Eugene Ewaschuk said at the time that Randal's father would be eligible for parole sooner than his wife because Ewaschuk was "convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that Marcia Dooley dealt the blow that killed Randal" and that she administered 90 per cent of the beatings he suffered.

Tony Dooley's lawyer Clayton Ruby, another big legal name, also lists several grounds for appeal in court documents, including the use of inflammatory language.

"The repetitive use of highly subjective and sentimental characterizations of Randal Dooley undermined the jury's ability to be objective in a case dealing with an obviously emotional and disturbing set of facts," Ruby writes.

"There are, regretfully, a large number of judicial comments which refer to `poor, pitiful Randal.' Indeed, a juror might well think that this was Randal Dooley's proper name."

Just months before Randal's death, his birth mother, Raquel Burth, sent Randal to Canada from Jamaica to have a better life with his father and his new wife. Medical experts said Randal died of a brain injury likely caused by repeated shaking.