Man's murder conviction quashed by Court of Appeal

Man's murder conviction quashed by Court of AppealImage source, Nottinghamshire PoliceImage caption, David Francis was jailed in April 2024 after a trialByLiam BarnesEast MidlandsPublished2 hours agoA man who was found guilty of murder following a stabbing has had his conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal.Davices Anderson, 22, died in hospital after being found injured at the junction of Huntingdon Street and Woodborough Road, Nottingham, on 28 April 2023.David Francis was given a life sentence with a minimum term of 16 and a half years the following year, but the 63-year-old's conviction has now been overturned.However, Courtney McLeary, who was also jailed for life, had his own separate appeal dismissed.In a judgment handed down remotely on Wednesday, the three Court of Appeal judges said Anderson - who was also known as Ricardo - died from "a single stab wound to the heart" and had also suffered other stab wounds while in McLeary's flat, where everyone had been taking drugs.While there was "no dispute" McLeary stabbed Anderson, his defence had been he was acting in self-defence after the deceased was behaving aggressively, while Francis had claimed he "was not involved and had effectively been acting as a peacemaker when the deceased had been threatening others in the flat".Image source, Nottinghamshire PoliceImage caption, Davices Anderson was found injured in the road and later died in hospital In their appeals, both defendants claimed hearsay evidence from a drug user, who was at the flat when the stabbing occurred but died before the trial, should not have been put before the jury.This was rejected by the judges, who said the trial judge "was entitled to admit the evidence by applying the statutory provisions that she did", and that earlier "inconsistent" statements were also put before the jury to allow them to assess the reliability of the witness.Francis's defence also said the judge...