Blaming Crown for delay

The defence for three men charged with killing Jonathan Bacon outside The Grand hotel in 2011 argued Wednesday that the Crown has been responsible for much of the delay in getting the case to trial.

Michael Jones, Jason McBride and Jujhar Khun-Khun have been in custody for over four years, since their arrest in February 2013 for the midday slaying of Jonathan Bacon, while he was visiting Kelowna in August 2011.

A recent Supreme Court of Canada decision ruled that any Supreme Court case must take no longer than 30 months from when charges are laid, barring delays caused by defence, or exceptional circumstances.

“What we're dealing with here is, is this exceptional, and if so, how does Jordan apply to it,” said Justice Allan Betton.

Defence argued Wednesday that the Crown was responsible for a significant delay when two key witnesses, whose identities are protected under a publication ban, agreed to co-operate with the prosecution, two years after the three accused were charged.

“There's no indication ... that when these witnesses did agree to become co-operating witnesses that there was any extra resources put into this to ensure that the time that it would take to complete the necessary investigations affected the length of the trial as little as possible,” defence said Wednesday.

“This decision was made, in my respectful submission, without heed to Mr. Jones' right to be tried within a reasonable time.”

The two witnesses signed “limited immunity agreements” in December 2015, in return for their co-operation in the case against the three accused.

The trial did not commence until a year and a half after the two key witnesses had officially agreed to co-operate.