Surrey Six Mountie seeks to have charges tossed because of delay
A lawyer for one of four RCMP officers accused of misconduct in connection with the Surrey Six murder investigation wants to have the case against his client thrown out due to an unreasonable delay in getting the matter to trial.
The development in the muchdelayed case comes as the trial in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver was adjourned yet again Tuesday.
Special prosecutor Chris Considine and lawyers for the accused made a brief appearance Tuesday before Justice Arne Silverman to set a new date for the trial and to schedule the trial-delay application.
The trial of the four accused, who were initially charged in 2011, was to have opened March 5 next year, but has now been put over until Jan. 28, 2019.
The latest delay relates to the special prosecutor receiving leave to appeal two decisions in the case, one from the trial court and one from the B.C. Court of Appeal, to the Supreme Court of Canada.
“The two issues under appeal are of significance to the trial process,” Daniel McLaughlin, a Crown spokesman, said in an email Tuesday.
The four accused — then-RCMP Sgt. Derek Brassington, Sgt. David Attew, Cpl. Paul Johnston and Cpl. Danny Michaud — were charged with various offences related to their conduct during the police probe into B.C.’s biggest gangland slaying.
On Tuesday, the judge set a tentative date for March next year to deal with the trial-delay application expected to be filed by Michael Klein, a lawyer for Attew.
Klein said in an email Tuesday that the reason for his motion is that Attew has not been tried within a reasonable time and therefore his rights protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms have been infringed or denied.
The case was first scheduled to start in September 2013, but was put over until September 2014, when it was again adjourned for a year.
In September 2015, the matter was put over until May 2016 and then again until September 2017. In June, the case was bumped to the March date next year.
Brassington is charged with seven offences, including breach of trust, fraud, obstruction of justice and compromising the safety of a witness identified in the indictment only as Jane Doe. In May 2013, he resigned after being charged with theft in an unrelated prosecution.
Attew, who faces six counts, including falsifying overtime claims and compromising the safety of a witness, also resigned from the force.
Johnston and Michaud face four and three charges, respectively, including breach of trust, obstruction of justice and attempting to mislead investigators from the Ontario Provincial Police.
Johnston resigned from the force in June 2013. Michaud remains suspended with pay.
Five men have been convicted of varying charges related to the execution-style fatal shootings of six men in a Surrey highrise in October 2007.
The two issues under appeal are of significance to the trial process.