A suspended Halifax lawyer convicted of sexual assault has been released from custody pending an appeal of his case.
Lyle Howe appeared in the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal in Halifax on Thursday. One of his lawyers, Phil Star, asked that he be released until his appeal.
The Crown did not oppose Howe’s release.
Justice Ted Scanlan agreed to Howe’s release, on a number of conditions.
“Remaining within Nova Scotia, unless travelling to Toronto to see his lawyer, there’s a curfew unless he’s in the company of one of his sureties,” said Star.
Howe’s sureties are his wife and mother, who each posted $20,000 for his bail.
Howe will remain free until his appeal hearing, which is expected to take place sometime next year.
Howe, a black defence lawyer with a high public profile in the city, was found guilty in May of sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman on March 20, 2011.
At his trial, he testified he had consensual sex with the woman, but the Crown argued she was impaired and did not give consent.
Howe was acquitted of administering a stupefying substance when the jury delivered its verdict in May.
He was sentenced to three years in jail in July.
The Nova Scotia Barristers' Society has suspended his licence to practise.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Ron Shaw
