WARNING: This story contains disturbing details about a double murder.

Andrew Berrysa国际传媒檚 appeal hearing against his conviction for murdering his two daughters started on Monday.

The Oak Bay father was found guilty on both counts of second-degree murder for the deaths of his two children, Aubrey and Chloe Berry, who were found stabbed to death in their beds in Berrysa国际传媒檚 home on Christmas Day 2017. Chloe was six and Aubrey was four at the time.

Berry was sentenced to life in prison for their deaths. His sentences will be served concurrently and he will be eligible for parole in about two decades.

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The appeal hearing in Vancouver is being live-streamed to a Victoria courtroom and is scheduled to run through the week.

Berry has maintained his innocence throughout court proceedings, testifying that he had gambling debts, and was attacked in his apartment when the girls were murdered.

The conviction appeal seeks a new trial and cites nine grounds sa国际传媒� relating to admitted trial statements, trial process and how the judge charged the jury sa国际传媒� though three of those have been dropped since it was filed in 2019.

Defense lawyer Tim Russell spent much of Monday targeting what he said were unreasonable rulings by trial judge Miriam Gropper. He took issue with the judgesa国际传媒檚 finding that sa国际传媒渢he firefighters and paramedics did not have the ability to influence the prosecutionsa国际传媒� while performing medical care after an injured Berry was found in his bathtub.

sa国际传媒淚n my submission, they did,sa国际传媒� Russell said. sa国际传媒淚 would say that anybody has the ability to influence the prosecution in the right circumstances.sa国际传媒�

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The three justices presiding over the appeal pushed back early on in the opening session.

sa国际传媒淚 myself am certainly struggling with this argument Mr. Russell because Isa国际传媒檓 not quite sure exactly what itsa国际传媒檚 leading to,sa国际传媒� said Justice Patrice Abrioux.

Russell also took aim at Groppersa国际传媒檚 ruling surrounding the admittance of statements Berry made in the presence of his police officer sister. He said Gropper allowed the sistersa国际传媒檚 statements as long as they were exclusively considered through her sibling role. While Russell accepted the agreed fact that the sister was not tasked or asked to be involved in her brothersa国际传媒檚 investigation, he said the statements should not have been admitted as theresa国际传媒檇 be no way for her to separate her concurrent roles as sibling and police.

Crown lawyers are scheduled to present Tuesday afternoon and all day Wednesday, with the defense returning for a final response on Thursday.

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