Magnotta drops appeal of 1st-degree murder conviction

Luka Magnotta has formally withdrawn his appeal of a conviction in the first-degree murder of Jun Lin.

Magnotta appeared before the Quebec Court of Appeal by video conference from jail on Wednesday.

A judge asked him if he was dropping his appeal voluntarily and Magnotta replied that he was.

Magnotta was found guilty of first-degree murder last December in the May 2012 slaying and dismemberment of Lin, a Chinese engineering student.

Magnotta, 32, was also given the maximum possible sentences on the four other charges: criminally harassing Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other members of Parliament; mailing obscene and indecent material; committing an indignity to a body; and publishing obscene materials.

The jury deliberated for eight days before returning five guilty verdicts.

Magnotta admitted to killing and dismembering Lin but was seeking to be found not criminally responsible by way of mental disorder.

The Crown had countered the crime was planned and deliberate and that Magnotta’s behaviour and actions were incompatible with those of someone supposedly suffering from a disease of the mind.

His lawyer, Luc Leclair, had filed two appeals in January, seeking a new trial for his client. Both were dropped on Wednesday.

One appeal cited judicial errors and another was seeking leave to appeal on a number of other issues.

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