Millennial Bonnie and Clyde killers appealing murder convictions: Report (2024)

Selfie-loving killers Millennial Bonnie and Clyde are throwing a Hail Mary in a desperate gambit to have their convictions overturned, according to a published report.

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Oliver Karafa and Yun Lu (Lucy) Li were convicted of first-degree murder and attempted murder in a 2021 double shooting in a Stoney Creek industrial area.

Tyler Pratt, a 39-year-old cocaine dealer from B.C. who had recently relocated to southern Ontario, was dead at the scene while his fiancee, Jordyn Romano, survived a bullet wound to the heart. She was 13 weeks pregnant and lost the baby.

Romano would become the main witness against the image-conscious killers.

Li and Karafa were both dealt automatic life sentences with no chance of parole for 25 years.

According to the Hamilton Spectator, the pair’s reasons — filed separately — for the appeals include:

— Karafa claims that his “criminal background and past convictions were brought up in front of the jury to diminish and stain my character.” He did five years in prison for a drunk-driving crash that killed his trainer.

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— Li testified she did most of the driving because of Karafa’s earlier convictions. The judge ruled the jury could not use that tidbit to convict.

— Karafa also claims that Li’s lawyer was “prejudicial and unfair constantly attacking me and my legal team.”

— Li’s notice of appeal listed her reasons as “errors in law” and she took issue with both conviction and sentence.

There were two mistrial applications which the judge rejected. Karafa had pressured Li to fire her lawyer, Liam O’Connor, and find a mouthpiece who would work with his team.

Romano testified that she and Pratt believed Karafa and Li were their new friends and business associates. Karafa and Pratt had embarked on — or discussed — several harebrained, get-rich-quick schemes Karafa’s last pie-in-the-sky pitch was a potential marijuana business.

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At the proposed site for the facility, the convicted drunk driver pulled out a gun and began shooting. Prosecutors said that Karafa and Li simply did not want to repay their “friends” the $500,000 they fleeced from Pratt.

In addition, Li became involved with the machinations when she promised to broker a bogus $1.5-million insurance policy via her politically connected mom’s insurance firm.

But it was Karafa who squeezed the trigger. She was convicted as a party to the crimes.

Karafa’s legal eagles admitted he pulled the trigger but claimed that the shooting was not premeditated and asked that he be found guilty of second-degree murder.

While Karafa did not take the stand in his defence, his Instagram-ready wife did. Li feigned ignorance that murder had been in the cards that fateful night.

The pair’s notoriety spiked when they fled to Eastern Europe as cops closed in. They were pinched in June 2021 in Budapest.

And the husband-and-wife team may be waiting a while before their appeals are heard. Due to clogged courts it may take years.

bhunter@postmedia.com

@HunterTOSun

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