EDMONTON - The Alberta Court of Appeal has ruled that the body of a murdered RCMP officer should stay in a grave in his northeastern Alberta hometown of Lac La Biche - at least for now.
Justice Jack Watson overturned an earlier ruling from the Court of Queen's Bench that would have allowed Leo Johnston's widow, Kelly, to exhume his body and move it to an RCMP cemetery in Regina.
There has been a bitter legal battle between Kelly Johnston and the Mountie's parents, who want their son's body to remain near their home in Lac La Biche.
Johnston, 32, was one of four RCMP officers who were killed by James Roszko at his Mayerthorpe-area farm on March 3, 2005.
Another appeal is expected to be launched next year by Johnston's parents.
They are expected to argue that the permit granted by a provincial agency that allowed the body to be moved wasn't valid.
