Jamie Bacon trial faces more delays

The trial of gangster Jamie Bacon on a charge of counselling to commit murder has been delayed again.

Bacon had been set to go to trial on the charge, which dates back to New Year’s Eve 2008, next month at the Vancouver Law Courts.

But Dan McLaughlin, of the B.C. Prosecution Service, said the trial will now start on Nov. 5.

“The trial was adjourned as it became apparent that the current trial date was no longer viable as a result of ongoing pre-trial issues,” McLaughlin said.

Bacon’s trial on the charge of directing someone to shoot a former associate was originally set for April 2018, but was then adjourned to September by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Catherine Wedge.

Bacon has been in custody since April 3, 2009, when he was arrested and charged in the Surrey Six murder case. Bacon was originally charged with plotting the murder of gang rival Corey Lal and Lal’s first-degree murder on Oct. 19, 2007 in a Surrey highrise.

Hitmen from Bacon’s Red Scorpion gang — Cody Haevischer and Matthew Johnston — were convicted of forcing their way into a penthouse apartment in the Balmoral Tower and executing Lal, his brother Michael and drug dealers Ryan Bartolomeo and Eddie Narong, as well as bystanders Chris Mohan and Ed Schellenberg. The hit men were accompanied by a man who can only be identified as Person X.

The Surrey Six charges that Bacon faced were stayed by a judge on Dec. 1, 2017, based on information presented at a secret hearing. The Crown is appealing that ruling and will next be in court on Oct. 26.

Earlier this year, Bacon applied for bail on the counselling charge, but was denied.