Lawyers for the three men accused of fatally shooting B.C. gangster Jonathan Bacon in Kelowna six years ago have concluded their case for having the charges against their clients thrown out
Dan McLaughlin, communications counsel for the BC Prosecution Service, said submissions on the application concluded Thursday and the judge is hoping to have a decision Monday.
“The Crown will be ready to start calling evidence on Monday in the event that the application is dismissed or no decision is ready,” he said.
The application process to have charges dropped against Jujhar Khun-Khun, Jason McBride and Michael Jones is based on the Supreme Court of Canada’s ruling in R. v. Jordan, which set out a new framework for analyzing a violation of the Charter.
To get the matter to trial was above the 30-month threshold established in the Jordan case for trials in Superior Court, which means the Crown will be required to show exceptional circumstances to rebut the presumption that the delay was unreasonable.
Khun Khun, McBride and Jones are each charged with one count of murder, four counts of attempted murder and numerous gun charges.
Bacon, a Red Scorpion gang member, was shot to death outside the Delta Grand Hotel on Aug. 14, 2011. In his vehicle during the attack were Larry Amero, a Hells Angel, James Riach, of the Independent Soldiers, and two women. One of the women, Leah Hadden-Watts , was paralyzed in the incident. The other remains unnamed.
The trio were arrested in 2013.