A Surrey man who was found guilty in 2011 of slashing two other men across the face and throat is appealing his conviction.
In March 2011 Anthony Andrew LaRose was convicted by a jury of two counts of aggravated assault, two counts of assault with a weapon and one count of possessing a weapon. He was later sentenced to seven years in jail.
His appeal hearing was scheduled for today (Nov. 14) in the B.C. Court of Appeal in Vancouver.
LaRose's conviction followed an April 2010 incident involving Chris Hanna and Saul Marshall. During the trial, the court heard that the pair were returning from a night out when they stopped at a gas station near Fraser Highway and 156 Street. They heard a commotion outside and ran across the street because they claimed they saw a man hit a woman.
A fight broke out and the man, LaRose, pulled a knife on the two unarmed men, slashing Marshall's neck and slashing Hanna across the cheek and stabbing him three times in the gut. They both suffered massive blood loss, but survived. LaRose, who admittedly has an extensive criminal record, then fled the scene.
During sentencing B.C. Supreme Court Justice Neill Brown called the pair's injuries "unequivocally life threatening" and LaRose's response "savage."
LaRose, who is now 22, never denied stabbing the men, but claimed he did it in self-defence because the two men attacked him.