Alberta men file to appeal convictions in Mountie killings

The two men who pleaded guilty to manslaughter for giving killer James Roszko a gun and a ride to his farm in Mayerthorpe, Alta., where he later killed four RCMP officers, have filed notice to appeal theirconvictions.

Whether the appeals proceed, however, is uncertain.

In documents filed Wednesday in the Court of Appeal of Alberta, their lawyers askedthe appeal court to allow the two men to withdraw their guilty pleas and order new trials.

However, Hennessey's lawyer, Hersh Wolch, and Cheeseman's lawyer, Peter Royal, filed the notices to appeal this weekto meet a deadline and are still deciding if there are grounds to proceed as they haven't yet looked through all the evidence.

"We will, once we've had a chance to review the material, make an informed decision as whether we keep going with it," Wolch said.

In January,Hennessey andCheeseman each pleaded guilty to four counts of the lesser charge of manslaughter in the 2005 slayings.Both men were originally charged with first-degree murder.

They argue that the evidence doesn't support the convictions and that the manslaughter pleas were entered as the result of the Crown proceeding on the first-degree murder charges while knowing there was no reasonable prospect of a a conviction.

Cheeseman and Hennessey are also appealing the lengths of their sentences.Hennessey was sentenced to 15 years in prison, Cheeseman 12 years.

Wolch said those appeals will proceed.

Hennessey is serving his sentence at Grande Cache Institution. Cheeseman is at Drumheller Institute in southern Alberta.

On March 3, 2005,Roszko shot and killed RCMP constables Brock Myrol, Peter Schiemann, Anthony Gordon and Leo Johnston at his farm.He then killed himself.