THE Court of Appeal for British Columbia on Thursday announced the webcast of the appeal hearings of the convictions in R. v. Haevischer and R. v. Johnston that are open to the public, the BC Prosecution Service informed the media.
Cody Haevischer and Matthew Johnston, who were sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years last December in the 2007 Surrey Six murders, filed their conviction appeals in the B.C. Court of Appeal in January 2015.
In October 2014, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Catherine Wedge found Haevischer and Johnston each guilty of six counts of first-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder.
Haevischer was also sentenced to 18 years for conspiracy while Johnston was sentenced for 20 years for conspiracy. “The conspiracy itself was by its nature so dangerous, so callous and so fraught with risk that it in fact resulted in six deaths, rather than one,” Wedge had noted.
In November 2014, the judge dismissed an application by the two to have their charges stayed “for abuse of process arising from both systemic police misconduct during the investigation, and inhumane conditions of confinement while on remand.”
Innocent victims Chris Mohan, 22, and Edward J. Schellenberg, 55, of Abbotsford and four other victims who police say led criminal lifestyles – brothers Corey Lal, 21, and Michael Lal, 26, and Edward Narong, 22, and Ryan Bartolomeo, 19 – were executed in typical gang-style fashion at Apartment 1505 of the Balmoral Towers at 9830 East Whalley Ring Road in Surrey on October 19, 2007.
The BC Prosecution Service said the court’s announcement includes dates and times of the webcast along with links to the website and terms of use. Due to the number of legal counsel in attendance and limits on room capacity related to COVID-19, only hearing participants (judges, court clerk, and counsel) can be accommodated in the physical courtroom.
The hearings will be intermittently closed to the public and the webcast will be suspended when counsel make submissions related to privileged and confidential information which cannot be disclosed publicly. The webcast will also be subject to a 20-minute delay during open portions of the hearings. It is expected that the proceedings will be open on October 14, 15, morning of 16, afternoon of 19, 20, and 21, and closed on the afternoon of October 16 and morning of October 19. The anticipated schedule on the final two days of the hearing (October 22 and 23) will be posted next week.
The entire announcement can be found here:
www.bccourts.ca/Court_of_Appeal/covid-19_announcements_other.aspx
