Fatal hit-and-run conviction overturned

The B.C. Court of Appeal has overturned the conviction of an Abbotsford man who was imprisoned three years for fleeing the scene after hitting his alleged drug dealer with a car, fatally ending a violent confrontation.

The province’s high bench said the lower-court judge erred in his instructions to the jury about how to interpret the accused’s state of mind and circumstances at the time of the deadly altercation in July 2014.

“The judge also erred in telling the jurors that evidence of past threats made by the deceased victim could not be used to the appellant’s benefit unless found to be truthful,” Justice Joyce DeWitt-Van Oosten concluded. In March 2017, a B.C. Supreme Court jury found Mario Richard Delellis, then 47, guilty of one count of dangerous driving causing the death of Dwayne McCormick, 41.

With 58 previous convictions, many related to his addiction, Delellis also was found guilty of leaving the scene of the accident on McKenzie Road in Abbotsford.

In November 2017, Justice Bruce Greyell sentenced him to three years in prison and imposed a one-year driving ban.

Delellis and McCormick had been living in the same housing complex up until a week before the altercation, after Delellis and his common-law partner Jessyca Rowe moved out.

“(She) said Mr. McCormick had supplied drugs to the appellant, resulting in a ‘big debt’ payable each month by (Delellis) and Ms. Rowe while they lived at the complex,” the justice explained.

“Mr. McCormick and others demanded that (Delellis) commit crimes in lieu of payment, including theft. At the time of the accident, (Delellis) still owed money to Mr. McCormick.”

The incident happened after Delellis arrived at the complex with Rowe looking for a cheque so they could leave the province. They were trying to avoid McCormick.