Convicted killer granted bail on new charges, jumps bail six days later

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Tyler Newton

A convicted killer who's facing new charges for a serious domestic assault appears to have jumped bail just days after he was released from custody.

Tyler Newton pleaded guilty to manslaughter back in 2016 for randomly stabbing and killing Caesar Rosales while they were riding on Kelowna's No. 8 bus on the evening of Oct. 30, 2014. He was handed a seven-year sentence, but with credit for time served, his sentence expired in December 2020.

Newton now faces new charges, stemming from an alleged assault on the morning of Dec. 31, 2021 in a home on West Kelowna's Cameron Road. He was arrested in June of this year and has been charged with aggravated assault, assault with a weapon and use of an imitation firearm.

The charges are labelled a “K-file” in the court records, which denotes domestic assault allegations.

He's remained behind bars since his arrest in June, until he was granted bail by Judge George Leven in late July. But he wasn't released until Sept. 8.

Just six days after his release, Newton failed to show up for his scheduled court date on Thursday, and a warrant has now been issued for his arrest.

A judge's reasons for granting bail are routinely covered under a publication ban, but Newton has a long criminal record and a history of not following imposed release conditions.

Prior to the expiration of his manslaughter sentence in 2020, Newton was granted statutory release twice, but both times his release was revoked after he tested positive for methamphetamine.

Statutory release is a type of conditional release where offenders are supervised in the community, and it's generally granted to offenders who've completed two-thirds of their sentence.

The Parole Board previously called his criminal history “appalling” and his previous community supervision history “abysmal.”

Since completing his manslaughter sentence, he's been convicted of a handful of more recent offences in 2021 and 2022, and he was given six months of additional jail time.

Newton's release and failure to show up to court comes amidst recent comments from Kelowna RCMP Supt. Kara Triance and Mayor Colin Basran, criticizing the justice system's so-called “catch-and-release” cycle that sees prolific offenders routinely granted bail.

In a recent statement from B.C.'s Assistant Deputy Attorney General Peter Juk responding to concerns, he said the justice system is “not broken” and the granting of bail is a “complex and fact-specific” process.

“Crown Counsel cannot predict the future actions of the accused with certainty, and they cannot eliminate all risks,” he said. “This is inevitable in a justice system based on the presumption of innocence, in which every accused person has a constitutional right to reasonable bail.”

Meanwhile, Newton's co-accused in the Dec. 31 assault, Dayton McAlpine, remains behind bars. McAlpine was initially the only person charged in the alleged incident, but Newton was added to the file several months later.

McAlpine is also no stranger to the criminal justice system. The 35-year-old has racked up 51 criminal convictions.