A court date has been set for the appeal of Travis Vader’s manslaughter conviction in the deaths of two St. Albert seniors.

Vader will have his appeal heard before a panel of three judges on Oct. 2. Typically the panel will reserve their decision until a later date, although it is possible they will deliver an oral decision on the same day.

Vader was convicted of manslaughter in 2016 in the deaths of the St. Albert couple Lyle and Marie McCann.

Bret McCann, the son of Lyle and Marie, said that he got chills when he saw the notification of the appeal come up on his phone and it brought back many feelings from when the incident first happened.

Although Vader is appealing the conviction, McCann and his entire family believes without a doubt that Vader is behind the disappearance and death of his parents.

McCann said that he feels pretty confident that the three month trial that ran in 2016 is appeal-proof.

"I think the Crown and the courts went out of the way to make sure that there wouldn’t be a viable appeal," McCann said.

The criminal trial of the disappearance and death of McCann’s parents spanned six years and was finally wrapped up with a life sentence on Sept. 15, 2016.

The McCann couple was last seen filling their motorhome with gas in St. Albert on July 3, 2010, before setting off on a planned trip to visit with family and camp on the West Coast. Their burned motorhome was found near the Minnow Lake campground, southeast of Edson, two days later. Their bodies have never been located.

Vader was convicted of second degree murder by Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Denny Thomas in the deaths of the McCann couple. Thomas relied on a section of the Criminal Code, which had been deemed unconstitutional by the courts 26 years earlier. The verdict was eventually substituted for two counts of manslaughter.

Vader was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for seven years.

On Jan. 27, 2017 Vader’s defence team, headed by Brian Beresh, filed a notice of appeal. The document states that if a new trial is ordered the defence requests the trial be heard by a judge and jury. The original trial was heard by a Queen’s Bench judge alone.

In the document the defence lists many grounds for appeal including the judge convicting Vader on only circumstantial evidence, the judge erred in failing to order a stay of proceedings as a result of undue delay perpetrated by the police and Crown, the judge erred in law by making findings of fact in both his reasons for conviction and sentencing that were unreasonable and not supportable by evidence.

The defence team also cited the error when the judge used an unconstitutional section of the Criminal Code, section 230, and said the judge erred by declining to order a mistrial after improperly convicting Vader under the zombie law.

McCann said that he will not be flying back to Canada from his current home in Australia for the appeal date but said that some of his family members will attend court that day. If a new trial is ordered McCann will attend court.

"I’m in this for the long haul," McCann said. "I’m up to it. I’m on it. I’m never going to give up on it," McCann said.

McCann plans to attend any appeals and any future parole hearings for Vader.