A Merritt man who stumbled upon a shotgun hidden under a lumber pile and sold it for $80 hours later faces at least three years in jail unless his lawyer wins a constitutional argument in B.C. Supreme Court.

The hearing will be the first in B.C. to challenge the mandatory three-year minimum sentence for sale of illegal firearms.

Rodney Boesel pleaded guilty to trafficking a weapon in connection to the incident that occurred on May 1, 2014.

Crown prosecutor Neil Flanagan outlined the events that morning, when Boesel was doing renovations at the apartment building where he lived in Nicola Valley.

He came across a hidden Browning shotgun wrapped in plastic in a weedy lumber pile beside a shed.

Boesel immediately called his drug dealer, who he had only recently met, and offered to sell the gun.

“It was a very poor timing opportunity to make a dollar,” Boesel testified during the sentencing hearing.

RCMP had arrested the drug dealer the day before and an officer answered his cellphone. Boesel arranged to sell the gun for $80 and about $20 worth of crack cocaine.

An undercover Mountie made the deal the same morning and police immediately arrested Boesel.

Under laws brought in by the previous Conservative government in 2008, weapons trafficking carries a three-year minimum jail sentence.

That law has been found in other provinces, including Ontario, to be unconstitutional, but Flanagan said the law remains standing in B.C.

Therefore, he said, the Crown is duty-bound to ask for three years.

But defence lawyer Genevieve Eliany is asking B.C. Supreme Court Justice Hope Hyslop to declare the minimum sentence contrary to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and not law in B.C.

Boesel is a drug addict on a methadone program who has a criminal record for a string of break-and-enter thefts in 2008.

He has no record for violence.

After the sale, Boesel told police: “It must seem stupid, but I really didn’t think about it.’”

“You didn’t once think this drug dealer was going duck hunting in Saskatchewan, did you?” Flanagan asked during cross-examination, adding “this gun would be used in the drug business.”

The hearing is expected to take at least two days.

Crown prosecutor Lesley Ruzicka, who is on the file with Flanagan, is arguing the court should decline to rule the three-year minimum breaches the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

A B.C. Supreme Court justice has ordered a new trial for a Lower Mainland resident convicted of illegally killing and abandoning a moose in the Nicola Valley.

Xin Xiao, 49, was found guilty after a trial last year on three charges under the Wildlife Act: hunting out of season, possession of an animal and abandoning an animal.

On appeal, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Dev Dley found Xiao did not receive a fair trial in provincial court because the judge allowed a conservation officer to provide what was tantamount to expert evidence about the time of the moose’s death.

The Crown’s case was built on circumstantial evidence.

Two deer hunters came across a dead bull moose at a spur road in the Nicola Valley near  Merritt in October 2013.

They testified that, when they returned to the same logging road later, they saw two Asian men with a Ford Raptor truck backed up to the moose.

One of the deer hunters said the pair appeared to be using a winch to get the moose — not yet field dressed or gutted — into the truck.

Officer Kelly Dahl was called to the finding of the dead moose.

He examined the carcass and concluded the moose was killed was killed that day.

A veteran hunter who first came across the carcass testified, however, the moose could have been killed up to two days before.

But the Crown objected he wasn’t qualified to give that evidence.

Dahl wasn’t qualified during the trial as an expert witness.

“The purpose of providing notice of expert evidence is fairness,” Dley wrote.

“The notice allows the defence to properly prepare for cross-examination and, if necessary, to consult with or call its own expert. Mr. Xiao was deprived of those benefits and that resulted in an unfair trial.”

A surveillance camera at a gas station in Merritt recorded Xiao and Li the morning before the moose was found.

Food and gas receipts from Merritt the day before were also found inside the Ford pickup.

Inside that pickup, registered to a woman from Vancouver, they found Xiao’s Canadian passport, as well as a wallet with his driver’s and hunting licences and credit cards.

Conservation officers used DNA to link the moose to blood found on a jacket in the truck.

The civil forfeiture office applied successfully to have the Ford Raptor sold, with half the $48,000 proceeds going to the Crown.

Xiao’s co-accused, Wei Li, was acquitted on all charges.

Micheal Gordey-Bourget

The family of a 31-year-old father of three who was killed after a driver attempted what the Crown called an “inexplicable and inept” U-turn on a downtown Kamloops thoroughfare following a busy car show is upset the man responsible received a fine in exchange for a guilty plea.

“I think the whole thing should have been a criminal case,” Carolyn Gordey, whose son died two years ago, told KTW. “I think he should have got jail time.”

Micheal Gordey-Bourget died on Aug. 10, 2014, after the motorcycle he was driving collided head-on with an antique 1965 GMC pickup following the annual Hot Nite in the City show and shine.

The deadly collision took place in the 200-block of Victoria Street West as Hot Nite and Ribfest came to an end.

Hong Li pleaded guilty in Kamloops provincial court on Tuesday to one count of driving without due care and attention — an offence under the Motor Vehicle Act, not the Criminal Code.

Court heard the 28-year-old was behind the wheel of a large Ford F-350 pickup truck heading from Sahali to Kamloops Airport. Li missed the Overlanders Bridge exit and attempted to pull a U-turn in front of the Sunlife Financial building at 280 West Victoria St.

While attempting to manoeuvre the U-turn, court heard, the 1965 GMC, driven by Murray Foster, sped westbound away from downtown. Foster saw the Ford blocking the road and swerved to avoid it, entering the oncoming lanes and colliding with Gordey-Bourget’s 1992 Harley Davidson.

Crown prosecutor Adrienne Murphy said Gordey-Bourget, 31, was pronounced dead before arriving at Royal Inland Hospital.

Li, meanwhile, fled the scene of the accident, driving through a debris field on the roadway and continuing to the airport. He did not give a statement to police for more than two months.

Defence lawyer John Stowe said Li’s truck was only partially blocking westbound traffic and he implied through his submissions that much of the fault for Gordey-Bourget’s death lies with Foster and his antique truck.

Stowe pointed to a report completed by police following the collision, which noted steering components of Foster’s truck did not meet current standards. Court also heard police found seven empty liquor containers and marijuana in Foster’s vehicle, but officers did not conduct an impaired-driving investigation.

Foster also admitted to police he had been speeding prior to the crash.

“There is a possibility that Mr. Foster was somewhat impaired,” Stowe said.

“He was driving fast, we know that.”

For the Crown, Murphy said Li’s driving set in motion a deadly chain of events.

“It’s the U-turn that starts this sequence of events, but there were a number of other circumstances,” she said, describing the attempted manoeuvre as “inexplicable and inept” given the location and the size of the vehicle Li was driving.

“As far as the physical harm, it’s Mr. Bourget who suffers the greatest — and he is deceased.”

Court heard Li was born in China and moved to B.C. in 2007. He lives in Surrey and works in construction. When asked through his interpreter if he had anything to say in court, he shook his head.

Kamloops provincial court Judge Chris Cleaveley banned Li from driving for a one-year period and fined him $2,000 — the maximum fine for driving without due care and attention.

“Mr. Li’s poor driving set in motion a chain of events which led to the death of Mr. Bourget,” the judge said, calling the incident “a tragedy.”

In the courtroom, 16 of Gordey-Bourget’s family and friends packed one side of the gallery, many clutching photos of the deceased.

Outside of court, his family looked tired and relieved, but not happy.

“They should have looked into the other guy, Foster,” Carolyn Gordey said. “He should have been charged as well.”

Gordey said she feels a small amount of closure.

“It’s one step — a little bit,” she said.

“Anything more would have been better, but this is something.”

The obituary of Micheal Bourget that appeared in KTW following his tragic death

Bourget, Micheal

A Kamloops man who uses target practice as a relaxation technique has agreed to abide by a two-year firearms prohibition after being arrested at gunpoint outside a North Shore bank.

The Crown applied for a five-year weapons ban for Jacob Cooper after he held a .22-calibre handgun to his head and threatened to shoot himself outside the TD Canada Trust on Tranquille Road on Jan. 4.

Police were called and the 26-year-old was arrested.

He was taken to Royal Inland Hospital under the Mental Health Act and later released without charge, but prosecutors decided to seek a firearms prohibition.

Crown prosecutor Sarah Firestone said she decided a two-year weapons ban would be appropriate after having conversations with Cooper, a ticketed welder, outside court.

In court, Cooper called the act “a cry for attention.”

He said he was in the midst of breaking up with his girlfriend and was trying to get her to listen to him.

Cooper said he uses firearms as a means of relaxation in the form of target shooting, but he agreed the circumstances warrant a prohibition.

Kamloops provincial court Judge Chris Cleaveley agreed, handing Cooper a two-year ban.

“It’s really concerning when someone takes a .22 and points it at their head,” Cleavely said.

A provincial court judge has convicted a Freeman for obstruction of a police officer, rejecting his defence that the law doesn’t apply to him.

Dale Martin Jacobi — who in court identified himself as Dale Martin of the family Jacobi — was charged following an incident in Merritt on Dec. 10, 2015,  when he refused to get out of his vehicle after it was pulled over at a checkstop for missing a front plate.

Jacobi questioned the RCMP’s authority to stop him.

“The accused is wrong that bylaws, statutory laws and regulations are not laws,” judge Stella Frame wrote in her judgement.

“They are laws and they bind the accused, as well as they bind every other person who enjoys the privileges of living in this province.”

Freemen on the Land is a loose group of adherents who believe they are bound only by natural law and that Canada’s statutes do not apply to them, unless they sign on.

Frame found the arresting officer determined Jacobi was obstructing a Motor Vehicle Act investigation when he refused to open his vehicle.

Throughout the arrest, Jacobi espoused what Frame called “nonsensical” statements that he was not bound by law and had not opted in by way of a contract and that he was not driving, but was “travelling.”

“The facts are not largely in dispute except that the accused endeavoured to justify his responses in accordance with the doctrines embraced by Freemen on the Land. This is folly,” Frame wrote.

Former Kamloops mayoral candidate Brian Alexander, who once identified himself as a Freeman leader, was convicted of obstruction of a police officer under similar circumstances.

The arresting officer in the Jacobi trial testified RCMP bulletins claim Freemen are often armed and willing to use armed force against police.

A patient who walked away from the Hillside Centre psychiatric hospital has pleaded guilty to assault after confronting a worker walking to adjacent Royal Inland Hospital.

Casey Heinrichs, 24, also pleaded guilty to a separate incident of indecent exposure in Riverside Park.

Crown prosecutor Oliver Potestio said an RCMP officer driving on Columbia Street on Feb. 25 saw a man with his hands up, threatening a woman on the sidewalk.

The officer arrested Heinrichs, who was wearing an identification bracelet from Hillside Centre, where he was committed.

The pedestrian was walking to work when Heinrichs began to threaten her.

She said Heinrichs confronted her, flicked his lighter at her and pushed her.

She was not injured.

Defence lawyer Sheldon Tate said Heinrichs has mental-health problems and is homeless.

He has a criminal record for a number of incidents of uttering threats and assaults — what he told provincial court judge Len Marchand were assaults by gesture only.

Marchand sentenced Heinrichs to 31 days in jail for the assault and indecent- exposure episode.

On May 7, people in Riverside Park saw Heinrichs masturbating, although Marchand noted he was not in a central area at the time.

When he was later arrested, police found Heinrichs with a hypodermic needle filled with what he told RCMP was methamphetamine.

A Vancouver-based junior mining company is suing KGHM Ajax, alleging it explored claims with the intention of finding nothing and did not pay an agreed-upon $1.35 million.

Cicada Ventures filed the statement of claim this week in B.C. Supreme Court.

It stated it made a deal with KGHM Ajax in December 2013 that would see the Polish-Canadian joint venture pay it $1.35 million for mineral claims, along with a percentage of royalties for any production from the site.

But Cicada said KGHM Ajax did not pay the sum and started drilling in October 2014 without Cicada’s permission.

Cicada’s claims are immediately east of KGHM’s proposed open-pit copper-gold mine on the city’s southern boundary.

“The number, location, depths and angles of the drilling were designed by KGHM to minimize the likelihood that the results from the testing of the core samples obtained would support further mineral exploration or development around the areas drilled,” the lawsuit states.

Drilling to prove there is no viable resource in order to place mine infrastructure is known as condemnation drilling.

Armed with exploration that found no viable mineral deposit, Cicada alleges KGHM Ajax manoeuvred through the Mines Act to declare it did not require permission from Cicada.

“This effectively evicted Cicada from those portions of the Cicada mineral claims in the form of condemnation drilling, the purpose of establishing that there is no value to all or at least parts of the Cicada mineral claims.”

Cicada said those claims are now destined to be covered by a waste rock dump.

Cicada is seeking $1.35 million, damages, a declaration for 20 per cent royalties from its claims and an order forbidding KGHM Ajax from any form of activity in the claims.

KGHM Ajax has not yet filed a statement of defence. The claims have not been heard or proven in court.

The two companies have been in the news in past.

Cicada first announced a deal between the firms in January of 2014.

KGHM Ajax denied the purpose was for exploration in a statement sent to Kamloops This Week.

“KGHMI (KGHM International) is in the process of acquiring the Cicada claims only to advance planned Ajax works or infrastructure on a small portion on the northwest fringe of Cicada’s claims, on land KGHMI has long owned,” the company said at the time.

More than a year later, in April 2015, a Cicada official told Kamloops This Week drilling on the claims was occurring at the same time the two companies were negotiating after failing to earlier come to a final deal.

“We’re still negotiating,” Cicada director Sammy Cheng said in April of last year, adding, “I think they want to see what’s there before they buy.”

Welcome to the 78th Provincial Winter Fair in Kamloops.

Welcome to the 78th Provincial Winter Fair in Barriere.

Two rival agricultural groups both claim they are the rightful home to this year’s provincial 4-H event — and one is suing the other, claiming its name, logo and organization was ripped off by a newcomer with a name designed to confuse the public.

Kamloops Exhibition Association (KXA), which traces its roots to 1895, filed a lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court against the Provincial Winter Fair Society and seven people.

Six of them are former organizers with the KXA’s own Winter Fair committee, while a seventh is a former bookkeeper for the KXA.

The lawsuit claims the competing Provincial Winter Fair Society was formed in March by the seven people named in the lawsuit and began using the name, forms and logo in its marketing.

“The defendants have caused confusion and misrepresented their connection with the plaintiff’s Provincial Winter Fair in numerous ways,” reads the statement of claim.

Information can be found online advertising the Provincial Winter Fair in both Barriere and Kamloops.

The event is an opportunity for children and teens to showcase and sell everything from rabbits to lambs and calves.

It was started by the KXA in 1939 and remained for seven decades one of the signature events in a city built on an agricultural economy. After the KXA lost its home at Mount Paul Industrial Park, it moved the fair to the North Thompson Agriplex in Barriere in 2011. Its long-term goal was to return to Kamloops once an agricultural complex was developed.

Gary Gray, president of the KXA, declined to speak on the lawsuit, but he said planning to hold the Winter Fair at the Tournament Capital Ranch in Rayleigh is continuing.

“At this point, we’re going to,” he said. “We’ll put up temporary buildings.”

Meanwhile, the community of Barriere is planning to host the Winter Fair for the sixth year.

“To me, I’m going to tell you the Provincial Winter Fair will be held in the [North Thompson] Agriplex,” said Evelyn Pilatzke, president of the Provincial Winter Fair Society and one of the seven people named in the suit.

Pilatzke similarly declined to speak about the lawsuit, but she said the newly formed group is working to continue success of the event in Barriere from Sept. 22 to Sept. 26.

“No one wanted to find themselves in this situation,” she said. “On the other hand, I’m sure we’ll have well-attended and good events for the kids. That’s our focus.”

KXA is also continuing with its goal of building an agricultural and events complex in Kamloops that could provide a permanent home to the Winter Fair and other events.

“We’re working with the city to enhance the Tournament Capital site,” Gray said. “The Agricultural Land Commission granted 14.5 hectares. We’re working with the city on a plan and pursuing options of a partnership.”

The Provincial Winter Fair Society and seven defendants have yet to file a statement of defence.

None of the allegations have been heard or proven in court.

A man who was busted driving drunk — his seventh impaired-driving conviction — after a police officer saw him struggling to place an order at the drive-thru of a Kamloops McDonald’s has been handed a five-month jail sentence.

David Horochuk pleaded guilty in Kamloops provincial court to one count of impaired driving and two charges of driving while disqualified.

Court heard the 49-year-old caught the attention of a Kamloops Mountie while attempting to place an order at the drive-thru of the Valleyview McDonald’s on Dec. 17.

Crown prosecutor Oliver Potestio said the officer noticed the vehicle at one point had its reverse lights on in the drive-thru and its tires bumped the curb as it pulled forward.

“The vehicle also parked a significant distance away from the window, requiring the employee to reach out to complete the order,” he said.

Court heard Horochuk’s vehicle peeled out of the drive-thru after he got his food, and the officer followed it onto the Trans-Canada Highway.

Potestio said the vehicle was swerving and veering across the highway. When he was pulled over, Horochuk was swaying and stumbling but denied drinking.

He was arrested and tests later determined that his blood-alcohol level was above the legal limit to drive.

Horochuk, who lives in Vernon, has 31 criminal convictions on his record, including 13 for driving-related offences — six previous impaired driving entries, four for driving while disqualified, two for failing to remain at the scene of an accident and one for dangerous driving.

His most recent drunk-driving conviction was in 2014.

Potestio said Horochuk has been prohibited from driving since 2004. At the time of his arrest in December, he was bound by three separate driving bans.

Defence lawyer Jordan Watt said his client hopes to move to Alberta to find work after his release from jail.

Kamloops provincial court Judge Stephen Harrison handed Horochuk a five-month jail sentence and placed him on an additional three-year driving prohibition.

A man who stole $80 from the till at a Kamloops post office to purchase a stamp on his first day out of prison is back behind bars.

Shawn Ansley pleaded guilty in Kamloops provincial court to one count of theft under $5,000.

Court heard the 43-year-old was released from a federal penitentiary on Feb. 17, with plans to live in a halfway house in Kamloops.

The following day, he went to the Canada Post outlet in Kamloops Square shopping centre on Seymour Street, looking for a stamp to send mail. What he found, court heard, was an apparently empty storefront.

Ansley told court he decided to hop over the counter and open the till, from which he stole $80. When an employee emerged and confronted him, Ainsley placed $60 on the counter.

“He then purchased one stamp and left on foot,” Crown prosecutor Oliver Potestio said.

Ansley was arrested a block away from the post office a short time later and found to have a stolen $20 bill in his pocket.

He told court he was returning to the post office to return the stolen money when he was busted.

Kamloops provincial court Judge Stephen Harrison handed Ansley a three-month jail sentence, which he will serve concurrently with his revoked parole.

He is slated to be released from prison in August. He was behind bars for break-and-enter.

A B.C. Supreme Court justice criticized an arrest by RCMP that turned up drugs and guns from a vehicle outside a Kamloops motel, ruling similarity to another vehicle sought by police was “beyond speculation and is pure fantasy.”

Justice Hope Hyslop ruled both the arrest of Rox-Ann Haines and Eric Noble on July 8, 2015,  as well as a search of their van, breached their rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Noble is charged with possession of prohibited weapons and possession of drugs, while Haines is charged with possession of a martial-arts weapon.

The B.C. Supreme Court justice is scheduled to deliver a ruling on Tuesday, May 24, whether those breaches are enough to make evidence police found — two sawed-off guns and a small amount of cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin — inadmissible in the trial. If so, the two will walk away from the charges.

Defence lawyers Jay Michi and Eric Rines are representing the couple arrested following a police chase of another vehicle unconnected to them.

The events started the morning of July 8, 2015, at the Savona boat launch, about 35 minutes west of Kamloops, when RCMP responded to a complaint of a domestic altercation. By the time they arrived, a man fled in a tan Chevrolet Venture minivan with no licence plate.

RCMP gave chase several times, but abandoned pursuit when the van weaved into oncoming traffic and reached high speeds. A subsequent search involved an RCMP helicopter and a number of patrol units, including a vehicle driven by Const. Kris Reinburg.

Late that evening, the Mountie testified he saw what he believed could be the van in front of the Tournament Capital Inn off the Trans-Canada Highway in Valleyview.

But the van in which Noble and Haines were arrested was blue, not a Chevy Venture, and had a licence plate.

Hylsop said Reinburg’s description of the van as being like the one sought by RCMP “was simply not true,” noting RCMP dispatch gave a precise description of the van sought, a description that didn’t match the van at the Tournament Capital Inn.

While Reinburg testified he believed RCMP dispatch reported the licence-plate number was unknown, dispatch in fact told pursuing Mounties the van had no plate.

Michi urged Hyslop to rule the breaches of the couple’s rights were so severe the drugs and guns should not be admitted as evidence.

“It is quite clear that Const. Reinburg operated in bad faith during the detention, search, arrest and investigation of this matter,” Michi said. “Canadians must be free from random stops and searches just because a police officer does not like the look of us or the vehicle we are in.”

Reinburg testified he knew the couple from an earlier domestic incident.

Hyslop ruled last year another search by RCMP was unlawful, resulting in charges dropped against Charles Patrick. He was carrying a loaded shotgun when he was pulled over. His home was called a “chop shop” for guns by a Crown prosecutor.

A couple found with two sawed-off guns and a small amount of drugs walked away Tuesday after a B.C. Supreme Court justice ruled an RCMP member who illegally searched them was “deceptive and manipulative” in his motivations.

Eric Noble was charged with possession of prohibited weapons and possession of drugs following a search of a van at the Tournament Inn in Valleyview, while Rox-Ann Haines was charged with possession of a martial-arts weapon.

Justice Hope Hyslop — who earlier found the couple’s rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms were breached by police when they were arrested and searched — ruled that admitting the guns and drugs as evidence after the illegal search of the van would bring the administration of justice into disrepute. She dismissed the charges after the Crown indicated it had no other evidence to proceed to trial.

Noble has been in custody for almost a year since the arrest, but was released after the decision.

The arrest at the motel on July 8, 2015, was preceded three hours earlier by an incident in which Mounties were in pursuit of a man fleeing a reported domestic incident in Savona, which is about 30 minutes west of Kamloops on Highway 1.

The suspect was driving a tan Chevy Venture minivan without licence plates.

The van searched by police at the Tournament Inn on the east end of Kamloops was a blue Ford minivan with plates. The arresting officer testified he believed the blue Ford could be the same tan Chevy sought by police in the Savona incident.

“Const. [Kris] Reinburg ignored all known facts of the Savona investigation, pushed aside evidence of fellow officers and deliberately breached Mr. Noble’s and Ms. Haines’ rights,” Hyslop said in her ruling.

Hyslop said she was “regretful to conclude” that police neglected to photograph the exterior of the blue Ford minivan for use as evidence in court because they knew it did not resemble the tan Chevy without a licence plate that was the subject of a high-speed chase hours earlier.

Defence lawyers Jay Michi and Erin Rines arranged for the van to be brought to the courthouse so it could be photographed and admitted as evidence.

“Const. Reinburg’s evidence is not capable of belief,” Hyslop concluded.

While Reinburg testified he believed RCMP dispatch reported the licence-plate number was unknown, dispatch in fact told pursuing Mounties the van had no plate.

Hyslop ruled last year another search by RCMP was unlawful, resulting in charges dropped against Charles Patrick. He was carrying a loaded shotgun when he was pulled over. His home was called a “chop shop” for guns by a Crown prosecutor. That ruling was appealed by the Crown.

Ken Brown, the driver of this houseboat, was killed on July 3, 2010, when Leon Reinbrecht drove his speedboat into the vessel.
KTW file photo

A B.C. Supreme Court judge has upheld the convictions of a man who recklessly drove his speedboat into a houseboat in July 2010, killing the houseboat’s driver, despite the fact it took nearly five years for the charges to get to trial.

Leon Reinbrecht’s lawyers argued his convictions should be tossed due to delay, but B.C. Supreme Court Justice Sheri Donegan dismissed that application on Wednesday.

“There is a societal interest in ensuring accused are tried on their merits,” Donegan said in her decision, which took two hours to read.

“The societal interest in the completion of this trial is high, so when I weigh and balance all these factors, I am satisfied Mr. Reinbrecht’s right to a fair trial has not been infringed in this case.”

In October of last year, Donegan found Reinbrecht guilty of criminal negligence causing death and criminal negligence causing bodily harm in connection to the July 3, 2010, crash in Magna Bay that left houseboat operator Ken Brown dead at the scene and at least five people injured.

Donegan ruled Reinbrecht was operating his speedboat recklessly at night after post-Canada Day fireworks when he crashed into the slow-moving houseboat. Reinbrecht’s speedboat ended up completely inside the houseboat.

It took 17 months from the time of the crash for the Crown to bring charges against Reinbrecht, but that delay did not form part of the defence’s argument.

Defence lawyer Joe Doyle argued the 46 months of delay from the time of the charge to conviction is not the fault of his client, a delay he pinned on the courts and Crown.

The case has seen one Crown lawyer retire and hand over responsibility to another. Reinbrecht is on his third lawyer. Delays were also caused by Reinbrecht’s fight to obtain legal-aid funding and a key Crown witness’s pregnancy.

Donegan found that Reinbrecht suffered some prejudice as a result of the delays, but said society’s interest in the case carried more weight.

Members of Brown’s family were present for the decision and they expressed relief after it was read.

“Every time we get together as a family, this is what we talk about — the next court date,” said Patti Oliver, Brown’s sister.

“He’s alive. Ken is not. People are suffering from this and still are. So, if he suffers, so be it.”

Oliver said she’d like to see Reinbrecht punished to the full extent of the law.

“The full amount of time, which we understand is about three years,” she said. “He can’t walk away from this.”

Lawyers are slated to return to court on May 31 to make sentencing submissions.

Reinbrecht is not in custody.

Randi Love, seen here at a 2008 press conference, was a member of the Kamloops RCMP in June 2015, when it is alleged she was selling cocaine. Love will appear in Kamloops provincial court on June 16.
KTW file photo

A former Kamloops police officer has been charged with three counts of cocaine trafficking — with allegations she was selling the drugs while still employed as a Mountie.

Randi Love, who has since retired from the RCMP, is accused of dealing cocaine on three occasions last June, while still a member of the national police force.

According to court documents, the 40-year-old allegedly trafficked cocaine on June 13, June 22 and June 26.

KTW has learned Love retired from the RCMP in recent months after discovering she was the subject of a drug-trafficking investigation.

This is not the first time Love has found herself at the centre of a criminal proceeding.

In 2013, she was a key witness for the Crown in the fraud trial of her ex-boyfriend, disgraced RCMP Const. Trent Wessner.

Wessner was convicted, based largely on Love’s testimony, of bilking Costco out of $400 after ordering home-theatre equipment and claiming it was never delivered.

During the trial, Wessner claimed Love pinned the fraud on him out of revenge following a nasty breakup.

At the time, court heard Wessner left his job with the RCMP and had found work as a railway conductor.

Love suffered an injury on the job and had been on medical leave from the RCMP for some time before she is alleged to have trafficked cocaine, KTW has learned.

In 2008, her policing duties included media relations and she was, at times, the public face of the Kamloops RCMP detachment.

Love is expected to make her first appearance on the drug charges in Kamloops provincial court on
June 16.

Former Kamloops Mountie Randi Love has been charged with three counts of trafficking in a controlled substance. It is alleged she sold cocaine in June 2015, while employed by the RCMP. Love left the force in October 2015. She is expected to make her first appearance in Kamloops provincial court on June 16.
KTW file photo

The Kamloops RCMP detachment is not commenting on a former high-profile officer charged with trafficking cocaine while on the force, but the national police force’s B.C. headquarters has offered some information about the allegations against Randi Love.

RCMP Staff Sgt. Rob Vermeulen said police launched an investigation into Love’s alleged cocaine trafficking on July 16, 2015.

“As the investigation progressed and information was corroborated, Randi Love was suspended from duty on Aug. 7, 2015,” Vermeulen said.

“In October 2015, she submitted her discharge papers and is no longer a member of the RCMP.”

Three counts of trafficking in a controlled substance were laid against Love last week. She is expected to make her first appearance in Kamloops provincial court on June 16.

According to court documents, Love is accused of trafficking in cocaine on three occasions last June.

At the time, KTW has learned, she was on medical leave from the RCMP after suffering an injury on the job.

Love made headlines in 2013 when she testified at the fraud trial of her former boyfriend, disgraced RCMP Const. Trent Wessner.

Wessner was convicted of bilking Costco out of $400 and subsequently left policing for a job as a railway conductor.

In 2008, Love was the media-relations officer at the Kamloops RCMP detachment.

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Former Kamloops Mountie charged with selling cocaine while with the police force

The Crown will seek a jail sentence in the range of two to four years for an electrical contractor who broke into his former mother-in-law’s house, beat her and forced her to sign documents absolving him of debts.

Rudolph Atzenberger was found guilty by a jury in March of forcible entry, break-and-enter, assault causing bodily harm and uttering threats.

Atzenberger was scheduled to be sentenced Monday in B.C. Supreme Court, but made a surprise declaration he was seeking an order declaring a mistrial.

“The primary witness in this case committed perjury a couple times,” he said.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Ian Josephson said he no longer has jurisdiction for anything other than sentencing.

Any appeal must go to the B.C. Court of Appeal.

The sentencing was rescheduled to July 18. It is expected to proceed even if Atzenberger does file an appeal.

Crown prosecutor Iain Currie told Josephson he will suggest a jail sentence in the range of two to four years, though he cautioned the estimate comes before he has seen a pre-sentence report.

The charges stemmed from an incident at Atzenberger’s mother-in-law’s Louis Creek home in the late-night hours of Oct. 9, 2014.

Susan Denison testified her former son-in-law entered her home while she was asleep. He tore off her covers and grabbed her by the hair, pushing and pulling her.

Over the next several hours, she said, Atzenberger sat directly across from her, grilling her about a series of family and financial questions. He hit her with his gloved hands each time he heard an answer he did not like from the 75-year-old woman.

Atzenberger then forced her to sign a document absolving him of debts.

The accused man represented himself at the trial. He testified he went to Denison’s home to iron out old differences and attempted to calm her and protect himself when she grew angry and violent. He said he tried to pour cold water on her and she slipped several times in the shower.

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A man and woman accused of going on an extensive crime spree through Kamloops before being collared by police in the North Okanagan are set to make their first appearance in a Vernon courtroom on Wednesday.

The suspects, a 42-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman, have not been formally charged, so their names have not been made public, but they have been in jail since being arrested on Saturday in Vernon.

On Friday, they became the subject of an investigation in Kamloops after being linked to a vehicle police believe was used in a rash of recent lottery-ticket thefts.

One of those incidents, KTW has learned, took place last Wednesday night at the Petro-Can gas station on Rogers Way in Aberdeen, when a customer distracted the clerk by spilling a frozen slush drink away from the till.

When the clerk went to clean it up, the lottery tickets were pilfered.

RCMP Cpl. Jodi Shelkie said an officer patrolling the North Shore found a white Suzuki SUV with Saskatchewan licence plates, believed to be linked to the thefts and arranged to have it towed.

Before the tow truck arrived, Shelkie said, two people got into the Suzuki and took off across the river, where a South Shore officer spotted it.

Shelkie said a chase was not initiated due to traffic in the area.

It was shortly after this that the Suzuki blew through a stop sign at Columbia Street and Eighth Avenue, T-boning a westbound Hyundai SUV and injuring the two people inside — a man and woman who remain in hospital with undetermined injuries.

The crash scene was serious enough to prompt drivers of passing vehicles to stop and offer help, including David Retzer, who left his Ford Focus running while he rushed to the wrecked vehicles and called 911 on his cellphone.

While he checked on the couple in the Hyundai, the suspects in the Suzuki stole his Focus and sped away south on Eighth Avenue, eluding police vehicles and a police helicopter.

A day later, on Saturday, Vernon Mounties received a report of theft of lottery tickets from a store and were aware of the Kamloops file.

Vernon officers found the suspects in the stolen Ford Focus and arrested them.

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CJ Fowler and Damien Taylor.

A sentencing hearing is set next month for a 26-year-old man who murdered his teenaged girlfriend.

Last year, Damien Taylor was found guilty after trial of second-degree murder in connection to the death of CJ Fowler, who was 16 at the time of her slaying.

The sentencing hearing, now set for June 24, was delayed several times for preparation of a Gladue report to detail Taylor’s First Nations background.

At trial, court heard the pair was visiting friends in Kamloops in December 2012 from their home in Northern B.C.

The Crown’s case was built on circumstantial evidence.

Fowler’s body, with a concrete chunk on her chest, was found by a person walking their dog in Guerin Creek near downtown Kamloops on Dec. 5, 2012. The couple was  last seen on closed-circuit cameras at Royal Inland Hospital, where doctors earlier told the couple that Fowler was pregnant.

Fowler had gone to hospital complaining of symptoms from crystal meth use. Taylor testified he had used large amounts of the drug during his time in Kamloops.

A pathologist testified Fowler choked to death when her tongue became trapped in her airway, the result of at least one blow to her head and face.

Deanne Wheeler, seen here celebrating her 18th birthday, was killed on Dec. 30, 2014, by her ex-boyfriend, Christopher Butler.

A Kamloops killer has abandoned his application to be found not criminally responsible for the 2014 beating death of his ex-girlfriend.

Christopher Butler has already admitted in court that he killed his ex, Deanne Wheeler, inside his Cherry Avenue apartment in North Kamloops on Dec. 30, 2014.

During a brief hearing on Tuesday, defence lawyer Micah Rankin said his client is no longer pursuing a not criminally responsible by way of a mental disorder (NCRMD) label.

Butler will instead be sentenced in July. Having pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, the 41-year-old will automatically receive a sentence of life in prison. The Crown will seek a term of 12 to 14 years behind bars before parole, while Rankin said he plans to pitch something closer to 12 years.

From the time of his arrest, Butler has maintained his guilt to justice officials. He had also refused legal assistance and represented himself until last year.

After his arrest, Butler told police Wheeler, 26, was “a demon.” He admitted to strangling her with an electrical cord, hitting her in the head with a rock and stabbing her seven times.

“When it entered my apartment, I set down the coffee it had brought,” Butler told police, referring to Wheeler as a demon.

“We went forward into the living room. It turned around and said, ‘You will no longer call me Satan,’ and its eyes went huge and black. . . . I feared for my life and said, ‘Die, demon, die.'”

Court has heard Butler was acting jealous and displaying stalking behaviour toward Wheeler prior to her death.

Butler is slated to return to court for sentencing on July 11.

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