Courtesy Hamilton Spectator:

An appeal court has upheld the conviction of a former CFL Saskatchewan Roughrider for knowingly exposing two women to HIV in a decision that could likely mean game over for the football player’s battle with the courts.

The three justices of the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal ruled yesterday that provincial court Judge Kenn Bellerose convicted Trevis Smith based on all the evidence at his trial last year and made no mistake when he opted to believe the testimony of the two women over Smith.

“He simply did not believe the appellant and was not left with a reasonable doubt by the appellant’s evidence,” Justice Gary Lane wrote in the unanimous decision.

“He did believe the complainants, and, on the whole of the evidence, he was not left with a reasonable doubt.”

The ruling means Smith will not be granted the new trial he was seeking. He is currently serving a six-year sentence for aggravated sexual assault. With the decision being unanimous, it will be tough to get the Supreme Court to hear the case, Smith’s lawyer Clemente Monterosso said in a telephone interview from Montreal.

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