Man pleads guilty to manslaughter in 2012 slaying

A man who had his murder conviction overturned on appeal pleaded guilty Wednesday to the lesser offence of manslaughter in connection with the gruesome slaying of a man in northern B.C.

James David Junior Charlie entered his plea relating to the January 2012 death of Fribjon Bjornson, 28, during a brief appearance by video link in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver. Under questioning from B.C. Supreme Court

Justice Michael Brundrett, Charlie confirmed that he was not under any pressure or coercion and was making the plea voluntarily. He admitted the elements of the offence including that he was one of several people who had fatally assaulted Bjornson in a home on a reserve near Fort St. James.

Charlie, who was initially charged with first-degree murder and was convicted of that offence by a jury in October 2017 before having the conviction overturned on appeal and a new trial ordered, will be sentenced at a later date. The judge ordered a report on Charlie’s aboriginal background for the purposes of sentencing.

The victim’s mother, Eileen Bjornson, who appeared by video link along with her husband, Fred, from the Prince George courthouse, said in a statement outside court that her family was consulted about the plea agreement.

“We accepted with difficulty knowing the facts of the case, but the idea of having to sit through a whole new trial was more than we could bear,” said the mother, who added that it had been nearly nine years since her son’s death. “We have been forced to relive his death over and over. We are tired. We want to remember Fribjon as he lived, and the kind and thoughtful person he was.”

A father of two young children, Bjornson, who had long struggled with drug addiction, was reported missing by his mother on Jan. 21, 2012. His truck was discovered abandoned at an apartment complex on the Nak’azdli Reserve on Jan. 23, 2012, and about a week later police found his severed head wrapped in a comforter in the basement of a home on the shore of Stuart Lake.

Police searched another residence and found a significant amount of blood that was later determined to be Bjornson’s.

Charlie and two other men, Wesley Duncan and Jesse Bird, were living in the home and selling drugs from it.

Duncan and Bird had earlier pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.