Attempted murder charges in case over drug debt stayed
Crown decides there’s insufficient evidence to convict accused
‘A previous similar incident on his record may have been overly persuasive to the police ...’
— Gary Botting
After two days of trial and testimony from 12 witnesses, charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault and robbery have been stayed against accused Gregory Wayne Hiles.
The Crown prosecutor announced in B.C. Supreme Court on Thursday morning that he was directing a stay of proceedings and 36-yearold Hiles was released from custody on Thursday afternoon.
Hiles’s lawyer, Gary Botting, said his client is relieved.
“He tends to keep a bit of a poker face. He has to under these circumstances, because your emotions are all over the place,” Botting said after the court appearance. “He was quite vocal about his having the case against him stayed.”
The case concerned an unpaid drug debt. The victim — who cannot be named due to a publication ban — and her husband owed a drug dealer approximately $3,000 and that money came due on Dec. 23, 2009. By midday the woman, who sold drugs to support her addiction, had collected all but $700 or $800 by calling in debts that were owed to her.
The Crown had alleged that Hiles was alone with the woman—whom he knew — some time that afternoon and robbed her of the money she had collected and beat her with a blunt object, causing a brain injury. The Crown said at the outset the case was circumstantial.
Botting said the witnesses who were called to testify on Tuesday and Wednesday did not implicate Hiles directly, and a number of them could have been considered suspects themselves.
By Thursday morning, the Crown had decided that there was not enough evidence to convict Hiles and stayed the charges.
“I think the fact that he had a previous similar incident on his record may have been overly persuasive to the police and the Crown in deciding to proceed on these charge in the first place,” Botting said.
Hiles was convicted of manslaughter in 2000 and sentenced to 10 years in prison for killing a man with a baseball bat in Nova Scotia.
Botting said his client has not decided whether to pursue a case against the Crown or police in civil court, but it is always a possibility.
The Crown has a year to reinstate the charges.