Iqaluit (Mar 22/04) - After an emotional trial that gripped the community of Cape Dorset this year, Salomonie Jaw was found guilty of murdering Const. Jurgen Seewald in Cape Dorset in 2001.

Jaw, 48, was sentenced to life imprisonment at Milhaven Penitentiary in Kingston, Ont., with no chance of parole for 25 years.

Now Jaw's lawyers are appealing the verdict. They claim the trial judge erred in failing to instruct the jury that they could find the accused guilty of second degree murder, if they found Seewald had used excessive force and was no longer acting in the course of his duties.

The lawyers have also appealed on the grounds that the trial judge, Justice John Vertes, failed to refer the jury to evidence favourable to the accused, and in particular, failed to refer them to evidence which tended to negate the specific intent required for murder.

Hamlet officials had no comment about the appeal, as the mayor, Matthew Saviajuk Jaw, is Salomonie's brother.