High court rejects bid to appeal convictions in beating death of Meika Jordan

OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada has dismissed an appeal from a couple convicted in the beating death of their six-year-old daughter.

Meika Jordan’s father, Spencer Jordan, and stepmother, Marie Magoon, were convicted of second-degree murder in 2015. Last year, the Alberta Court of Appeal upgraded the convictions to first-degree murder.

The Calgary couple appealed that ruling.

The Supreme Court heard their arguments and dismissed them Monday with a 9-0 ruling from the bench.

The couple’s trial heard that Meika was severely abused over the course of a weekend in November 2011.

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Court heard Jordan punched his daughter in the stomach and pushed her so hard her head smacked a tile floor. When she refused his order to run the stairs, he dragged her up and down the steps by her ankles and hair.

The trial heard Magoon shoved and kicked Meika on the stairs and the girl hit her head again and again. Magoon held the girl by her arms, shook her head on the kitchen floor and asked her why she wouldn’t listen to her father.

The first of the assaults appeared to be a burn. Court was told Magoon held Meika’s hand over the flame of a lighter while the girl screamed and urinated.

The couple eventually called an ambulance and paramedics found the girl unconscious and not breathing. Jordan and Magoon told them Meika had fallen down some stairs. They later admitted during an undercover police investigation that they had abused the girl

She died the next day in hospital of head trauma.

Reasons for the Supreme Court’s decision will be formally released later.

The Canadian Press