No government appeal in Watts case

Major Darryl Watts, CF

CTV News reports: The Canadian Forces says it will not challenge an appeal court ruling that overturned a Calgary soldier's conviction in a fatal training accident in Afghanistan.  The decision on a new trial is pending.

Similar issues arise in the U.S. when an appeals court overturns a conviction on legal error.  Some of the factors a U.S. convening authority considers are the views of any victim(s), the practical ability to reassemble the witnesses, and the strength of the case.

Interestingly (as of 2007),

More active members of the military died during two years of peacetime in the early 1980s than died during a two-year period of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a government report.  ABC News reports that, "As an accident during a training bombing run today left six people dead in Kuwait, it may seem like the U.S. military has suffered an unusual number of fatal mishaps in recent months. But military statistics indicate serious accidents have been running at about their normal rate, and they have been generally decreasing over the past two decades.