Yellowknife (Mar 20/06) - A Lutsel K'e man will have to wait in jail while his lawyer prepares to appeal.

Antoine Michel, 53, was one of three men sent to prison last November in connection with a rape that occurred in Lutsel K'e in 1975.

Michel is serving a three-year sentence, but continues to proclaim his innocence, said lawyer Art Tralenberg of Edmonton.

"His position has always been that he doesn't know what it's all about.

He wasn't there," said Tralenberg during a 90-minute bail hearing in the NWT Court of Appeal March 16.

Tralenberg said Michel needs to be out of prison in order to help advance the appeal.

"He would be able to assist me better in his community than in prison."

The lawyer outlined five areas of appeal, including that the Crown prosecutor impeached its own witness and that Justice Virginia Schuler erred in her instructions to the jury by placing too much emphasis on the Crown's case and not pointing out inconsistencies in testimony.

He also said Michel's former lawyer refused to allow him to testify in his own defence and said new witnesses are willing to testify.

Speaking for the Crown, Shelley Tkatch told Justice Ted Richard that the prosecutor was within the law by asking the jury to believe only part of one witness's testimony. "(Michel's lawyer) has failed to provide evidence at this time," she said.

Richard denied the bail application.

"I am unable to determine whether those grounds (of appeal) are frivolous or not. The application for bail pending appeal is premature."

Tralenberg said he will continue with the appeal.

"This is just one setback."