Nelson Lugela appealing conviction and sentence
Posted June 13, 2019 12:54 pm.
Last Updated June 13, 2019 6:59 pm.
CALGARY (660 NEWS) — The man convicted of killing former Calgary Stampeder player Mylan Hicks is appealing his conviction.
Last week, Nelson Lugela was sentenced to life in prison and 18 years without parole for second-degree murder, after Hicks was shot to death outside a nightclub in 2016.
In the appeal filed Wednesday night, Lugela writes the trial judge made errors in accepting circumstantial evidence and wrongfully convicted him without reasonable doubt.
RELATED: Nelson Lugela sentenced to life, with no chance of parole for 18 years
Lugela says the judge did not consider the fact a bartender saw somebody else fire the shots that killed Hicks.
He adds the sentence is “extremely brutal”.
Hicks’ mother, Renee Hill, says she is not surprised Lugela is filing an appeal, and she calls him a monster.
“He still doesn’t give a damn,” she said Thursday over the phone. “He didn’t give a damn in the beginning, and he doesn’t give a damn now. But it pretty much goes back to everything that the judge spelled out: his character flaws, and he doesn’t have the aptitude to give a damn. He’s selfish.”
The judge issued such a strict sentence as he believed Lugela has a high risk to re-offend and is a danger to society.
WATCH: Stampeder killer sentenced to life in prison, no parole for 18 years
