Appeal denied for man convicted of killing Calgary chef

Christophe Herblin is shown in a Calgary Police Service handout photo. A Calgary judge has handed prison sentences to two men for their roles in the killing of a well known chef. Anthony Dodgson was found guilty of second-degree murder after stabbing Herblin to death while his accomplice, Tommie Holloway was convicted of manslaughter. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Calgary Police Service

A submission from a man convicted of stabbing Calgary chef Christophe Herblin more than four years ago has been denied by the Alberta Court of Appeal.

Anthony Dodgson, one of the men convicted of second-degree murder in the 2020 stabbing, filed an appeal of his conviction because he said he was intoxicated at the time of the incident and didn't remember stabbing the victim nine times.

At 3 a.m. on March 14, 2020, Herblin received a notification on his phone that an alarm at his restaurant had been triggered.

Unbeknownst to him, Dodgson and his co-accused Tommy Holloway, tripped the alarm in an attempt to break into the cannabis dispensary next door.

The pair fled the scene before Herblin arrived, with the business owner calling 911 to alert police.

Several hours later, after police cleared the scene, the two accused and a third person returned to the restaurant in a stolen vehicle.

According to court documents, Holloway approached Herblin's parked vehicle and smashed the windshield before walking away.

"Mr. Herblin is then seen exiting the restaurant and walking toward his car," the court document said.

"The CCTV video shows the appellant running at Mr. Herblin, but does not show what occurs over the next minute, although the appellant admitted that he stabbed Mr. Herblin in a struggle."

Herblin was stabbed nine times then made his way to a nearby gas station. He died before help could arrive.

The appeal court heard that Dodgson admitted he consumed drugs and alcohol before the incident and that meant he was not in the frame of mind to support a conviction of second-degree murder.

The panel denied Dodgson's appeal based on his after-the-fact conduct and claim of intoxication during the incident.

The court said that at the time of his arrest, Dodgson denied he was in Calgary at the time of the murder, but when Crown questioned him at trial, he said "he could not remember stabbing the victim."

"The appellant did not tell police that he lacked any memory, instead when questioned by police, he denied the offence."

The court also found Dodgson disposed of his clothing and the knife following the killing and then turned his anger against the third person who was with him and Holloway at the time of the stabbing.

That person, a woman known as AB, testified about the conversation Dodgson and Holloway had in the vehicle prior to the confrontation with Herblin.

She told the court they planned to steal his vehicle and if he resisted, they would stab him.

"The appellant called AB a 'rat' on the first day of the trial," the court's decision read.

"The Crown invited the jury to draw the inference that the appellant was attempting to intimidate AB from testifying about the conversation that occurred in the car about stabbing the victim.

"This evidence was relevant to intent for second-degree murder because the discussion in the car about stabbing was inconsistent with manslaughter."