Supreme Court confirms new murder trials for Jennifer Pan, 3 others in attack on woman’s parents

Supreme Court of Canada Justice Michelle O'Bonsawin, left to right, Justice Nicholas Kasirer, Justice Malcolm Rowe, Justice Andromache Karakatsanis, Chief Justice Richard Wagner, Justice Suzanne Cote, Justice Sheilah Martin, Justice Mahmud Jamal and Justice Mary Moreau are seen during a welcome ceremony at the Supreme Court in Ottawa on Monday, Feb. 19, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada has confirmed an order for new first-degree murder trials for an Ontario woman and three others who were convicted in an attack on her parents.

Jennifer Pan was sentenced in 2015 to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years for first-degree murder, and life for attempted murder, for a 2010 attack that left her mother dead and her father with a serious head wound.

Her three co-accused were convicted on the same charges.

In its ruling today, the Supreme Court says there should be new first-degree murder trials for all four, but affirmed the convictions for attempted murder.

Ontario’s Court of Appeal already had ordered new trials on the first-degree murder convictions.

The Court of Appeal said the trial judge erred by suggesting to the jury only two scenarios for the attack — one in which the plan was to murder both parents, and another in which the plan was to commit a home invasion and the parents were shot in the course of the robbery.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 10, 2025.