Bacon trial waits for records from witness protection

The trial for the three men accused of killing gangster Jonathan Bacon in a daylight shooting in Kelowna has been delayed until January while the court awaits records from the witness protection program.

Jason McBride, Michael Jones and Jujhar Khun-Khun are charged with first-degree murder in the death of Bacon outside Kelowna’s Delta Grand hotel in August 2011.

They are also charged with the attempted murder of four others who were in the car with Bacon at the time.

The trial, which has faced several delays since starting in May, went on hiatus in October to accommodate witness issues, Dan McLaughlin, spokesperson for the BC Prosecution Service, said at the time.

The court was originally scheduled to reconvene Nov. 3 to evaluate the progress toward resolving those issues, but it was pushed back to Wednesday, when Justice Allan Betton met with counsel in the absence of the accused.

“This is really intended to be an opportunity to see where we’re at in terms of acquiring these (witness protection) records,” said Betton.

Ryan Dawodharry, legal counsel for the Attorney General of Canada on behalf of the RCMP and the witness protection program, told Betton the witness protection program was in the process of getting those records to his office, and that he would be producing them to the court.

A portion of the records was expected to reach Dawodharry’s office by the end of today, with the remainder of the records expected by the end of the month, he said.

“We would likely need at least two weeks in order to process the records,” said Dawodharry, adding the length of time depends on the volume of the records. “There’s also the logistics of getting records vetted, printed and ready for production for the court, as well as scheduling.”

Betton and the lawyers scheduled to meet again at the beginning of December to discuss the witness protection records.

“My objective would be, if at all possible, to get through all of the procedures and all of the arguments regarding the records both from counsel for the (Attorney General of Canada), accused, Crown and the witnesses themselves before the Christmas break,” said Betton. “I’m not at all certain that’s going to be realistic if the last of the transcripts don’t find their way to Mr. Dawodharry’s office before the end of November.

“It seems inevitable that we’re not going to be in a position to get back to the trial proper and the calling of evidence on the trial until, at the earliest, the beginning of January and perhaps the middle of January.”

The accused were arrested in February 2013 and have been in custody ever since.

Before the trial began, defence counsel for the accused applied to have the case dismissed, citing a July 2016 Supreme Court of Canada ruling that serious criminal cases should be concluded within 30 months of charges being laid unless there are exceptional circumstances.

In June, Betton ruled the application was dismissed and the trial would continue.