Convicted killer released on bail, two weeks after arrest for jumping bail

Photo: RCMP

Tyler Newton

The convicted killer who jumped bail in Kelowna six days after he was released last month has once again been granted bail, two weeks after police had re-arrested him.

During a bail hearing Friday morning, 32-year-old Tyler Newton was granted bail by Judge Lisa Wyatt, according to online court records. Newton was last released on bail on Sept. 8, and he failed to show up to his next court date just six days later.

A B.C.-wide warrant was issued for his arrest, and police found and arrested him in downtown Kelowna on Oct. 7 thanks to several tips from the public.

At the time, Kelowna RCMP spokesperson Const. Mike Della-Paolera called Newton a “dangerous repeat offender.”

BC Prosecution Service spokesperson Dan McLaughlin says the Crown did not oppose Newton's latest release, but instead consented to his bail.

“The accused was released by the court today on a release order of $500 with conditions designed to ensure the safety of the public and the justice system participants,” Mclaughlin said in an email.

Newton has a long criminal record, but his current outstanding charges stem from an incident alleged to have occurred on West Kelowna's Cameron Road on Dec. 31, 2021. He's facing charges of aggravated assault, assault with a weapon and use of an imitation firearm stemming.

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

Newton was initially arrested in June on the charges, and he remained in custody until he was granted bail by Judge George Leven and released on Sept. 8. He failed to show up for his next court date just six days later, leading to the B.C.-wide warrant for his arrest.

He's been in custody for the past two weeks, but Friday morning, Judge Wyatt once again granted him bail.

Newton is no stranger to the criminal justice system. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2016 for fatally stabbing Caesar Rosales on Kelowna's No. 8 bus on the evening of Oct. 30, 2014. The stabbing was completely random and unprovoked, and a psychologist later determined Newton had been suffering from drug-induced psychosis at the time.

Newton was handed a seven-year sentence, but with credit for time served, his sentence expired in December 2020.

Prior to that, Newton was released from custody twice on statutory release, but both times he was sent back to prison after testing positive for methamphetamine.

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 several more recent offences in 2021 and 2022, and he was given six months of additional jail time.

Meanwhile, Newton's co-accused in the Dec. 31, 2021 incident, Dayton McAlpine, remains behind bars. Both men are scheduled to next appear in Kelowna court on Nov. 2 for a preliminary inquiry.