

The Canadian Press





TORONTO - A former pastor convicted of manslaughter in the drowning death of his pregnant wife at their Toronto home has been granted a new trial.

In a decision released Friday, the Court of Appeal for Ontario said Philip Grandine should be retried on a charge of manslaughter.

The court found the trial judge's answer to a question from the jury “introduced an unlawful act not previously contemplated or dealt with during the trial” and “materially compromised trial fairness.”

Grandine's wife, Anna Karissa Grandine, 29, was found in the bathtub of their bungalow in October 2011 and he was arrested six months later and charged with first-degree murder.

Toxicology reports found a sedative in his wife's system which had not been prescribed to her.

The Crown had argued Grandine plotted to kill his wife in order to continue an extramarital affair with his friend's wife, who was a parishioner at his church.