She walked out of court a free woman four months ago, ending a 10-year family tragedy for the Harrisons.
A judge called Melissa Merritt’s decision to enter into a plea deal to manslaughter this past March a “fair and just result.”
Now she’s back for more.
Merritt, 45, filed a notice of appeal over a technical issue that was not decided in her favour, bringing the saga of the Harrison family murders back to court. The challenge itself must first be granted by the Court of Appeal to be heard. The court could also refuse to hear it.
The appeal focuses on a constitutional law issue that was decided in a lower court prior to Merritt’s guilty plea. The issue does not concern the actual facts of the case involving the Harrison family. It stems from the trial judge in Merritt’s second trial dismissing her defence lawyer’s attempt to have the judge acquit her of the charges at the conclusion of the Crown’s case.
What’s at stake if the appeal is granted is not Merritt’s ongoing freedom, but whether she will remain criminally responsible for her ex-husband’s death.
Star investigative reporter Amy Dempsey has followed the case for more than a decade, tracing the suspicious deaths of three members of the same family over five years in their Mississauga home.
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First, Bill Harrison’s death was ruled to have been of natural causes after the 64-year-old was found in a locked powder room on the main floor of the family home in 2009. A year later, his wife, 63-year-old Bridget Harrison was found dead at the bottom of the stairs, not far from where she had previously found her husband. The coroner’s office updated the cause of both deaths to “undetermined” after Bridget’s body was discovered. It wasn’t until Caleb, 40, was found dead in 2013 that Peel Police opened a murder investigation.
Caleb Harrison and Melissa Merritt met in 2000.
FreelanceIn 2014, both Merritt and her new partner at the time, Christopher Fattore were arrested and charged with three counts each of first-degree murder. Fattore originally confessed to both Caleb and Bridget’s murders, saying Merritt knew nothing of his plans. Merritt was committed to trial only on first-degree murder charges related to Caleb and Bridget. Fattore went to trial facing the same charges in addition to second-degree murder in Bill’s death.
The Crown argued Merritt was the mastermind behind a plot to kill her ex-husband and his mother over the acrimonious custody battle.
A jury found Fattore guilty of murdering both Caleb and Bridget but not Bill. Merritt was found guilty only of murdering Caleb. The jury could not reach a verdict on Merritt’s role in Bridget’s death. A mistrial was declared and the Crown stayed that charge against her.
Both Merritt and Fattore were sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years. Both appealed, with Merritt successful in having her conviction overturned citing errors the judge made in instructing the jury.
A retrial was held last year where the Crown again pursued a murder conviction against Merritt for Caleb’s death and resurrected the homicide charge in Bridget’s death. In March 2024, a jury found Merritt not guilty of killing Bridget and could not reach a verdict on her role in Caleb’s murder, leaving surviving family and the case against Merritt again in limbo. Another mistrial was declared and the Crown’s office sought a third trial.
But in March of this year, Merritt entered the surprise guilty plea to manslaughter in Caleb’s death. She was sentenced to 15 years plus a day. But with credit for over a decade in custody, Brampton Superior Court Justice Jennifer Woollcombe agreed with both legal teams that she should not face any additional jail time.
She was guilty, but she was free.
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