Jamie Bacon to apply for bail: lawyer
Premier says he will work ‘aggressively’ to restore confidence in B.C. justice system
Days after murder and conspiracy charges were stayed against Jamie Bacon, the notorious gangster is applying to be released on bail on his remaining charge, his lawyer confirmed Monday.
Kimberly Eldred wrote in an email that “Mr. Bacon is planning to seek bail on his outstanding charge.”
“We hope to do that before Christmas, as Mr. Bacon has already spent a long time in remand,” Eldred wrote.
Bacon, 32, has been in custody since his arrest in the Surrey Six slayings on April 3, 2009. While those charges have now been dropped, he remains in custody on a charge of counselling to commit murder that was laid in July 2014.
The Crown alleges Bacon was behind the failed attempt to kill a former associate in December 2008. That associate was only grazed in the shooting. Bacon is due to go to trial on that charge in April 2018.
The B.C. Prosecution Service has said it will oppose his release on bail.
Eldred also said she couldn’t comment on Friday’s controversial and secretive ruling by B.C. Supreme Court Judge Kathleen Ker staying Bacon’s more serious charges.
“I expect that it will come as no surprise to you that I cannot say anything more than Madam Justice Ker said in the abbreviated ruling, as there are very strict sealing orders in place,” she wrote.
Earlier on Monday, Premier John Horgan said he was concerned to learn about the stay of charges against Bacon.
He vowed to work “aggressively” to restore public confidence in the judicial system following Friday’s bombshell ruling, which left the families of innocent victims Ed Schellenberg and Chris Mohan stunned and heartbroken.
“This is a setback for all of us whether we were following the Bacon case or the implications of the Bacon case,” Horgan said. “Whenever the judiciary makes a decision that appears discordant in the minds of the public, seems a bit off-base, that diminishes our confidence in the system.”
Horgan said he had been advised by Attorney General David Eby that the reasoning behind the ruling will not be made public at this time, but that his government will work “to get as much information out to the public as possible.”