Charges stayed against Jamie Bacon
Prosecution terminated against leader of Red Scorpions in Surrey Six slaughter
Murder and conspiracy charges against Red Scorpion Jamie Bacon in connection with the Surrey Six killings have been stayed by a B.C. Supreme Court judge.
The decision was made on Friday morning, when the court granted Bacon’s application for a stay of proceedings to terminate prosecution. The public announcement was delayed until the afternoon so the victims’ families could be notified.
The charges stemmed from the Oct. 19, 2007, shootings of six men in Suite 1505 of the Balmoral Tower apartment building in Surrey. Chris Mohan, 22, Ed Schellenberg, 55, Edward Narong, 22, Corey Lal, 21, Michael Lal, 26, and Ryan Bartolomeo, 19, were killed. Mohan and Schellenberg were innocent bystanders.
Bacon, who was the Red Scorpions’ leader at the time, was accused of being the mastermind behind the killings.
In 2014, Cody Haevischer and Matthew Johnston were convicted of six counts of first-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder in relation to the case. Both men are serving life sentences with no chance of parole for 25 years.
Another gang member, whose identity is shielded by a publication ban, pleaded guilty to three of the murders and testified against his co-accused.
Bacon’s case was severed from the other two accused so that the court could deal with a number of applications that were specific to his case. The applications related to solicitor-client privilege, litigation privilege, informer privilege and public interest privilege.
Postmedia previously reported that Bacon’s legal team filed an application to have the charges thrown out because of extraordinary delays in the case. Bacon has been in custody since April 2009.
Much of the proceedings were conducted in closed court.
The evidence, materials and reasons for the stay have been sealed.
Bacon was expected to go to trial in March 2018.
The B.C. Prosecution Service is reviewing the court’s decision to determine whether to file an appeal and will make a statement once the review is concluded.
Eileen Mohan, mother of victim Christopher Mohan, told Postmedia in October that her greatest fear was that Bacon would never go to trial and would be released.
“For Mr. Bacon to be released without trial for the sins he has committed would be a total injustice to Christopher and a huge slap in my face,” she said. “If he doesn’t go on trial, then what message are we portraying to the citizens of British Columbia and Canada?”
Schellenberg’s brother-in-law, Steve Brown, agreed, saying that he felt the courts had failed.
Bacon remains in custody on a separate charge of counselling the murder of an individual. The trial is scheduled to begin April 3. Bacon hasn’t applied for bail in that case, but the Crown said it would oppose his release.