A Kamloops-area cowboy who rustled cattle to sell on Kijiji, stole furniture and even made off with a kitchen sink will have to wait a couple of weeks to find out how long he’ll stay behind bars.

Jason McDowell pleaded guilty to cattle theft and three counts of theft under $5,000 in Kamloops provincial court on Friday.

Court heard the 37-year-old farm manager and mechanic had been working and living on a cattle farm in the Cache Creek area in the summer of 2014 when he suddenly disappeared. 

McDowell took with him more than $5,000 worth of furniture from the company-furnished home in which he had been living with his wife and six children. He also took a new kitchen sink, tools and a piece of machinery.

Court heard he left behind a $6,000 bill for personal expenses on a company credit card.

The family headed to Alberta, where McDowell found work on another cattle farm in the Hanna area, 200 kilometres east of Calgary.

In March, when his employer was on vacation, McDowell listed 10 of the farm’s branded cattle for sale on Kijiji. He sold them to an unsuspecting buyer for $20,000.

When the employer returned to the farm, he found a note from McDowell saying he had quit. The farm owner called police and reported his cattle stolen.

McDowell was on the lam until July, when he was arrested in Kamloops. He’s been in custody since.

Court heard the cattle have been returned to their rightful owner, but McDowell’s $20,000 has not been recovered.

Crown prosecutor Will Burrows said McDowell’s crimes involved plenty of preparation.

“Mr. McDowell placed them on Kijiji, so he clearly thought about this,” he said.

“He put the cattle for sale on Kijiji and then sold them while his boss was out of town. It’s pretty cold conduct.

“He is, in my submission, essentially a man without conscience.”

McDowell has a lengthy criminal history, including multiple convictions for fraud and theft dating back to 1997.

Burrows asked Kamloops provincial court Judge Roy Dickey for a three-year sentence in a federal penitentiary. 

McDowell pleaded for two years of house arrest so he can start paying off his $11,000 restitution bill.

“I understand what I did was criminal, selfish and hurtful,” he said.

“I am extremely sorry for the pain and suffering that I’ve caused.

“I’m humbled, I’m broken down and I ask for a chance. I won’t mess it up.”

Court heard the owner of the Alberta ranch is launching a civil suit against McDowell. The farm’s owner claims more than 10 cattle were rustled.

Dickey said he needs at least two weeks to decide on a sentence. McDowell is due back in court to set a date for sentencing on Oct. 19.

Two Kamloops men are facing charges following a home invasion in Sahali over the weekend.

Dustin Braaten and Corey Santoro were arrested following an alleged incident at a home in the 500-block of Columbia Street West on Saturday.

Braaten, 31, is charged with one count each of break and enter to commit indictable offence, possession of a controlled substance and robbery.

Santoro, 30, is facing charges of break and enter to commit indictable offence, robbery, possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose and breach of probation.

Santoro was granted bail on Monday and ordered to abide by a number of strict conditions.

Braaten’s bail hearing has been set for Oct. 26.

Timothy Watson, 54, of Kamloops died in this June 9, 2014, crash on Highway 5 North.
KTW file photo

Calling it among the most difficult sentence hearings, a provincial court judge has handed a $2,000 fine and a two-year driving ban to a Williams Lake man who drifted into the oncoming lane of Highway 5 North in Kamloops, resulting in a crash that paralyzed his passenger and killed another driver.

“Mr. Watt in all likelihood fell asleep,” provincial court Judge Chris Cleaveley said in his Sept. 17 sentencing decision.

Timothy Watson, 54, of Kamloops was pronounced dead on the scene of the June 9, 2014, crash.

Mitchell Watt of Williams Lake pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention under the Motor Vehicle Act. Cleaveley sentenced Watt to a two-year driving ban and gave him a $2,000 fine, the maximum under the act.

Neither speed nor alcohol were factors in the crash.

Watt told Cleaveley during his submission that he wanted to keep his driving ban to a minimum so he could continue to take his friend, Brayden Methot, for outings. Methot was partially paralyzed in the afternoon crash that occurred when Watt’s southbound pickup drifted into the oncoming highway lane.

The 24-year-old partsman at a motorcycle dealership told the sentencing judge he has no explanation how the accident occurred. Watt has a long driving record that includes infractions for speeding and driving bans.

“I’m still trying to figure out what happened,” he told Cleaveley.

Watt acknowledged his three friends travelling with him were sleeping, but said he has pulled over in past when he felt tired behind the wheel.

Watson’s sister, Cynthia Hutchison, told KTW she is outraged Watt did not face criminal charges for ending her brother’s life.

Hutchison described Watson, a longtime worker at the Tolko mill, as a man with “a heart of gold. He wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

She said she worried the penalty handed down isn’t strong enough to prevent Watt from making similar driving decisions in the future and criticized the Crown for not following up on what she said was a year of investigation by police.

“Tim mattered and he’s getting treated like he did not matter,” she said.

Watt said he lives 30 minutes west of Williams Lake and will have to move in order to get to work once he is banned from driving.

The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that momentary lapses of attention by drivers do not constitute dangerous driving causing death under the Criminal Code.

“These are the most difficult sentencing cases, impossible for the family, accused or the court,” Cleaveley said. “It’s impossible to craft the right sentence.”

Alone, frustrated and drunk.

Cheryl William died following an early-morning house fire at Gordon’s St. Paul Street home on April 25, 2013Alone, frustrated and drunk.

That’s the picture painted by David Gordon’s videotaped confession to police played for jurors in a Kamloops courtroom on Tuesday.

David Gordon is standing trial in B.C. Supreme Court on one count of manslaughter and two counts of causing damage by fire or explosion.

Cheryl William died following an early-morning house fire at Gordon’s St. Paul Street home on April 25, 2013.

Court has heard William was a guest of Gordon’s roommate at the time of the blaze.

Less than two hours before the fire started, Gordon’s girlfriend, Marie Ricard, was removed from the home by police after she called 911 to say she did not feel safe after an evening of drinking.

After she left, Gordon said, he retreated into his bedroom with beer and sat on the floor near a number of boxes of clothing.

“Yeah, just sitting on the floor, didn’t have the TV on or nothing,” he said in the videotaped police interview.

“Sitting in the dark drinking. I lit the corner of the one

In the interview, Gordon said he left the room briefly and, when he returned, the box was fully engulfed.

Court heard he then left his bedroom and alerted his roommate, Will Toporowski, before fleeing to a neighbour to ask them to call 911.

Court has previously heard Toporowski was unable to awaken William as the fire spread and he eventually fled the burning home.

William was removed from the home by firefighters and died in hospital four days later.

Gordon’s confession came after two days of denial. At first, he told police he went to a friend’s house and returned home to find his house on fire. He later acknowledged he could have started the blaze, but claimed he didn’t remember.

The trial is expected to conclude next week.

Less than 24 hours after the tough-on-crime Conservative government was ousted from power in Canada, a B.C. Supreme Court judge who once ran as a Liberal candidate in Kamloops has called into question the mandatory minimum sentencing that was brought in under outgoing Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Juan Lewis pleaded guilty on Tuesday to possession of crystal meth for the purpose of trafficking.

Court heard the 28-year-old was spotted by a police officer riding his bike down a North Kamloops street at 3:30 a.m. on Jan. 22, 2014.

The officer asked what he was doing. Lewis, after identifying himself, mentioned that he had an outstanding warrant.

Lewis was arrested and a search of his backpack turned up $375 in cash and more than 20 grams of meth — worth an estimated $1,200 — in a fake water bottle.

Because Lewis has a prior conviction for possession for the purpose of trafficking — he was sentenced to a 107-day jail term in 2011 — he is subject to a mandatory minimum one-year sentence for his second offence.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Joel Groves sentenced Lewis — who he described as “not beyond redemption” — to a year behind bars, but not before implying the sentence was too steep.

Once he is released from jail, Lewis will be bound by a lifetime firearms ban. He will also have to submit a sample of his DNA to a national criminal database.

“I will not comment on the law of sending someone to jail for a year for a $1,200 drug offence, but I will do that,” Groves said.

Groves ran as a Liberal candidate in the 1997 federal election in the Kamloops riding. His 14,244 votes placed him second, behind incumbent NDP MP Nelson Riis.

An alleged Kamloops grinch the Crown says was busted behind the wheel of a car stolen while idling outside a house on Christmas morning has been granted bail.

Kirsten Hunt is facing seven charges out of Kamloops and Surrey in connection with a number of separate alleged offences.

Crown prosecutor Frank Caputo said an idling vehicle was stolen from outside a Kamloops home at 4:45 a.m. on Dec. 25, 2014. The car was spotted two days later in Surrey, he said, with Hunt behind the wheel.

Court heard the 23-year-old was arrested and, after initially giving police a fake name, released on a number of conditions — including one barring her from possessing identification of anyone other than herself.

On June 3, Caputo said, Hunt walked into the Kamloops Real Canadian Superstore and tried to buy a cellphone using a stolen piece of identification.

Court heard Hunt was only busted because the alert store clerk searched the name on the identification on Facebook and determined it was a different person.

The Superstore employee then sent the woman a Facebook message, Caputo said, and was told the ID had been stolen.

Kamloops provincial court Judge Chris Cleaveley released Hunt on bail, with conditions requiring her to abide by a curfew and live at her grandparents’ house, among others.

She is due back in court on Nov. 12.

A Kamloops woman who died following a 2013 house fire was unconscious when she was removed from the burning home by firefighters, a jury has been told.

David Gordon is on trial in B.C. Supreme Court on one count of manslaughter and two counts of causing damage by fire or explosion.

Cheryl William died as a result of an April 25, 2013, blaze at Gordon’s St. Paul Street home.

Taking the stand yesterday, Kamloops Fire Rescue firefighter Eric Nykoluk said he was part of a team of four firefighters who were the first to show up to the fire.

He said they arrived within five minutes of the initial call to 911.

Nykoluk said he saw flames in a bedroom and described the house as having “zero visibility” due to smoke when he and another firefighter entered to conduct a search.

“Basically, what we’re doing is looking for people, for victims,” he said.

“It wasn’t long after we entered the building that he had yelled back to me, ‘I found someone.’

“So, I moved up closer to where he was, and I’m feeling around to get a better idea of the person’s position so I can prepare to lift and carry them out.”

Crown prosecutor Neil Flanagan asked about William’s state when she was found.

“Is she moving at all?” he asked.

“No,” Nykoluk replied. “Totally unresponsive, unconscious.”

Nykoluk said he grabbed William by the armpits and the other firefighter picked up her feet.

“Basically, we just hustled her out of the building as quick as we can and get her to a safe place,” he said.

“We put her on the grass.”

Nykoluk said another team of firefighters then began performing first aid on William.

Court has previously heard William died four days after the fire.

Earlier this week, the jury was shown video of Gordon confessing to starting the fire.

In the interview with an RCMP detective, Gordon said he was sitting on the floor of his bedroom when he decided to set fire to the corner of a box of clothes.

When he went to stomp out the small fire, he said, it spread.

Gordon said he notified his roommate and left the home to find a neighbour to call 911.

William was a guest of Gordon’s roommate.

Court has heard the roommate was unable to awaken her before he fled.

The trial is expected to conclude next week.

A B.C. Supreme Court justice has ruled a logging contractor must pay $116,000 to a ranch owned by one-time European business magnate Walter Wolf.

The ranch, located immediately north of the Trans-Canada HIghway at Hoffman’s Bluff, east of Kamloops, sued Alkam Holdings Ltd. to recover money owed after the logging contractor cut ranch timber.

Wolf came to terms with the contractor in 2013 to log about 10,000 cubic metres of timber at his Wolf Ranch, with the two splitting the proceeds on sale of logs to Interfor.

However, the operation ran into a Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Development investigation that found it encroached on Crown land.

Both companies were fined by the ministry a total of $13,000.

“The defendant [logging contractor] says it was unable to complete what it considered the most profitable part of the project because the plaintiff misrepresented or failed to properly identify the areas that could be logged,” Justice Nathan Smith wrote.

Smith found Alkam Holdings owner Randy Durante was concerned about boundaries of the ranch and asked Wolf to pay for a survey, but the ranch owner said he could not afford it.

“The defendant had a contractual right to insist on a survey regardless of any pleas to poverty Mr. Wolf may have made,” Smith wrote. “Instead, Mr Durante made a conscious choice to proceed with logging in the absence of a survey in circumstances where he knew or ought to have known the risk that created . . .”

Evidence was entered into the civil trial that Wolf needed money for medical treatment in the U.S., which was behind the decision to log a portion of his ranch.

Wolf Ranch is comprised of 4,500 fee simple acres along with 1,700 acres of Crown grazing lease.

Wolf once owned Lamborghini in the 1970s and operated a Formula One team. His interested have included tobacco firms. He was most recently in the news for a bribery scandal in Europe, allegations which he denies.

Kamloops RCMP Cpl. Jean-Rene Michaud was shot during Dec. 3, 2014, traffic stop in Batchelor Heights. On Friday, Michaud returned to policing — albeit in a limited capacity — when he testified in a preliminary hearing of a man facing drug-related charges.

Nearly 11 months after he was shot while conducting a traffic stop in Batchelor Heights, RCMP Cpl. Jean-Rene Michaud was in a Kamloops courtroom on Friday testifying against an alleged criminal in an unrelated case for the first time since being injured.

Michaud took the stand in the preliminary inquiry of Michael Lees, who is charged with two counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking.

The evidence he gave is bound by a court-ordered publication ban, but it marks Michaud’s return to policing — albeit in a limited capacity.

It is not known if or when Michaud will resume full-time work.

Ken Knutson is facing a raft of serious charges — including attempted murder — in relation to the Dec. 3, 2014,  shooting of Michaud.

The 36-year-old was arrested following an exhaustive manhunt that lasted more than 12 hours.

Knutson is due back in court for his own preliminary inquiry beginning on Dec. 7.

Preliminary inquiries are pre-trial hearings to determine whether there is enough evidence for the case to proceed to trial.

Cheryl William

The roommate of a Kamloops man on trial for manslaughter and accused of setting a fatal house fire in 2013 cried in court on Friday while recounting the chaotic scene that left his girlfriend dead.

David Gordon’s trial in connection to the death of Cheryl William began last week before a jury in B.C. Supreme Court.

William Tomporowski told jurors he met Gordon by chance in early 2013. He said he walked by a man sitting on steps and weeping and asked what was wrong.

Tomporowski said Gordon told him he had nowhere to live. By chance, court heard, Tomporowski had recently separated from his longtime partner and was looking for a roommate to help him cover rent.

Gordon moved into Tomporowski’s St. Paul Street one-bedroom suite on April 22, 2013. Tomporowski said he gave Gordon the bedroom because Gordon had a girlfriend.

On April 24, 2013, Tomporowski finished work at 3 p.m. and headed to the Kami Inn pub, where he was a regular. William, also a regular, showed up a few hours later.

The two met about a week earlier and became romantically involved.

The pair stayed at the bar until it closed and headed to Tomporowski’s home, where Gordon and his girlfriend, Marie Ricard, were sitting in the yard drinking beer.

Tomporowski said Gordon and Ricard soon began arguing and their argument turned violent. She hit him with a door, court heard, and he responded by shoving her into the kitchen.

Ricard called police and was taken to a women’s shelter.

Tomporowski said he then got into his living-room bed with William, who had slept through most of the arguing.

“It was about five or 10 minutes after, we start hearing kicking noises and bangs and yelling coming from the bedroom,” Tomporowski said.

“A lot of bangs, thumping, stomping. It sounded like he was hitting something.”

About half an hour later, Tomporowski said, Gordon came out of the bedroom.

“He leaned over and I remember him saying, ‘I just lit a fire,’” Tomporowski testified.

“I don’t remember the last part, but, ‘I want to kill you two’ or ‘I want to kill you all.’

“That’s when I jumped up and I seen that he had a fire going in the bedroom.

“As I came around the corner, David was standing, staring, looking at the fire, watching it.”

Tomporowski said he took a Brita water jug from the fridge and dumped it on the blaze, but it grew quickly.

“The flames just went straight up, floor to ceiling, and when it hit the ceiling, it spread,” he said.

“As soon as the fire hit the ceiling, I turned around and started screaming at Cheryl, ‘Let’s go, let’s get out of here.’

“At that point, I couldn’t see because the smoke was so far down.”

Tomporowski said he crawled to the back door as smoke filled the house.

“Then, when I opened the door, that’s when there was the big whoosh sound and that’s when the windows and doors blew out and I got blown outside,” he said through tears.

“There was a lot of flame and smoke in the house.”

Firefighters have previously testified William was unresponsive when they carried her out of the home.

She died in hospital four days later.

Gordon confessed to police that he set the corner of a box of clothes on fire and, when he tried to stomp it out, it spread.

His trial is expected to conclude next week.

A Vancouver stalker displaying “deliberate, excessive and frightening” behaviour will spend at least the next week in a Kamloops jail cell after allegedly trying to contact his victim on the morning he was due to be sentenced.

Bob Kisun pleaded guilty in March to criminal harassment.

The 39-year-old was charged in 2014 after sending four alarming letters to a former acquaintance who lives in Kamloops.

The Crown had Kisun tested by doctors to determine whether he should be found not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder (NCRMD). The tests have been completed and Kisun was to have been sentenced on Thursday.

He took a bus from Vancouver to Kamloops, arriving early Thursday morning.

Court heard he slept briefly outside the courthouse before walking to nearby Royal Inland Hospital — his victim’s workplace — and leaving a note, asking her to call him.

A warrant was issued and Kisun was arrested and brought to court.

Crown prosecutor Monica Fras said Kisun has recently been exhibiting stalking behaviour with one of the doctors who was ordered to examine him.

“He’s not a manageable risk in the community,” Fras said.

Kamloops provincial court Judge Stella Frame indicated in court she is not convinced Kisun should be found not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.

“From what I have seen and what I have read, it seems to me like you know exactly what you are doing,” she told Kisun, calling his crimes “deliberate, excessive and frightening.”

Ultimately, the decision about whether Kisun is sentenced criminally or found not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder is up to Frame.

Kisun is due back in court on Oct. 29 for a bail hearing.

At that time, lawyers will set a date for his NCRMD hearing.

A unique hockey jersey helped police in Merritt track down a thief who stole a bike from Canadian Tire.

Court heard Terrance Roman walked into the store on July 25 and took off on a bike worth $300.

“He was wearing a very distinctive Minnesota Wild hockey jersey,” Crown prosecutor Frank Caputo said.

“He was discovered at a local coffee shop nearby. He was wearing that same jersey and the bicycle was discovered nearby.”

Roman, 51, pleaded guilty in Kamloops provincial court on Friday to one count of theft under $5,000.

He was handed a five-day jail sentence.

Dustin Braaten as he appeared in a 2007 KTW series documenting his attempts to kick drug addiction. KTW file photo

A Kamloops man who smuggled $3,000 worth of heroin into jail in his body has been handed a three-month jail sentence.

Dustin Braaten pleaded guilty in Kamloops provincial court yesterday to possession of a controlled substance.

Court heard the 31-year-old was booked into Kamloops Regional Correctional Centre on April 27.

Federal Crown prosecutor Anthony Varesi said Braaten was searched during his admittance to the jail and no drugs were found.

The following afternoon, Varesi said, corrections staff were watching Braaten in his cell via closed-circuit video when something caught their eye.

“They noted some suspicious behaviour on the part of the accused,” Varesi said.

Officers went to Braaten’s cell and found a prescription bottle in his name hidden in bedding.

Inside the bottle was 19.9 grams of heroin. Another gram was found tucked into Braaten’s waistband.

“It’s a fairly large amount of heroin,” Varesi said.

Varesi said nothing about where the drugs were hidden, only that they weren’t found during a search during the book-in process.

Braaten was sentenced to 90 days in jail.

In October 2007, when he was 23, Braaten was the subject of a KTW series chronicling his attempts to kick his drug addiction.

The final paragraph of the final instalment in the series:

“‘Sometimes I think about how far I would be if I had never done drugs,” he says.

“But I can’t really think like that. I just try to be as grateful and thoughtful as I can, and when I do get discouraged with something small, I try not to let it get me down.”

That series can be read online here.

Leon Reinbrecht

The long, strange legal journey of Leon Reinbrecht is almost over.

It has been five years, three months and 24 days since Reinbrecht’s speedboat collided nearly head-on with a houseboat on Shuswap Lake, killing the houseboat’s operator, Ken Brown.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Sheri Donegan is expected to deliver her verdict on Tuesday, following a trial that spanned six months before wrapping up in June.

Reinbrecht’s fate has been in Donegan’s hands since the trial concluded.

A decision had been expected in September, but it was pushed back more than a month at the judge’s request.

The proceedings against Reinbrecht have moved at a snail’s pace since the crash, which occurred on the night of July 3, 2010.

Court heard Reinbrecht was driving his speedboat in crowded Magna Bay following a fireworks display when he collided with Brown’s houseboat. Witnesses said they saw a speedboat being driven recklessly in the area prior to the crash.

Toxicology reports showed Brown was intoxicated at the time. The Crown entered no evidence about Reinbrecht’s inebriation, but a passenger on his boat said he had been drinking.

In the weeks after the collision, police obtained a warrant for blood samples they thought had been taken from Reinbrecht by staff at Royal Inland Hospital. The warrant was granted largely on the evidence that a number of empty beer cans were found in Reinbrecht’s boat.

When police went to collect the blood samples, they learned no such samples were taken.

It took 17 months for charges — criminal negligence causing death and criminal negligence causing bodily harm — to be laid against Reinbrecht.

During the course of the trial, court heard investigators wanted to return to Magna Bay at the same time of year to understand the lighting conditions at the time of the collision.

After charges were laid in December 2011, a number of potential trial dates came and went before lawyers went to court in January of this year. But, at the last minute, Reinbrecht switched lawyers and the trial was pushed back another month.

The trial itself was far from routine.

The Crown opened by announcing it would call 50 witnesses. Once evidence started being presented to court, additional witnesses began to come out of the woodwork and some were called to testify, complicating matters and creating further delays.

Witnesses offered conflicting testimony about what they saw. One described a boat travelling at “killing speed.” Multiple people said they saw a boat “doing donuts.”

In the spring, the trial was delayed for two weeks because of a scheduling conflict on the part of the judge.

In April, a police officer and Crown witness meddled in the defence’s case by contacting the employer of a defence expert witness — the Canadian Coast Guard — and questioning whether the witness should testify.

RCMP Cpl. Richard Harry spent three days on the stand. After finding out about the inquiry to the Coast Guard, defence lawyer Joe Doyle raised the prospect of having all of Harry’s evidence tossed.

“I will say, on its face, it’s concerning,” Donegan said at the time.

The inquiry also caused another delay, requiring lawyers to comb through a pile of new disclosure relating to Harry’s conversation about the defence witness.

Reinbrecht’s defence lawyers tried to poke holes in the Crown’s case throughout the trial. During his testimony, Harry admitted the houseboat had a light that was not functioning, making it non-compliant with Transport Canada guidelines.

Doyle compared the houseboat to a driver on a highway at night with no lights on.

If Reinbrecht is found guilty, it’s likely sentencing will be set over for a later date. It is also possible his defence lawyers could make a Charter application to have the conviction tossed due to delay.

Leon Reinbrecht

Travelling on the blackness of Shuswap Lake more than five years ago, Leon Reinbrecht piloted his speedboat too fast, wasn’t looking for hazards and did not follow a consistent course when he struck a houseboat, killing its operator, a B.C. Supreme Court justice ruled.

Justice Sheri Donegan found Leon Reinbrecht guilty on Tuesday 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 other people injured.

The resulting impact from the accident following post-Canada Day fireworks on the lake resulted in Reinbrecht’s boat coming to a stop inside the houseboat.

Reinbrecht’s defence lawyers suggested the Crown had not proven Reinbrecht was piloting his speedboat dangerously, suggesting instead Brown was at fault because his houseboat was not properly lit and he was intoxicated.

But, Donegan agreed with Crown prosecutors Camille Cook and Neil Flanagan that there is ample evidence Reinbrecht’s “joyride” that night — after he dropped off several passengers on shore and returned for a nighttime cruise at speeds between 30 and 40 m.p.h. (48 to 64 km/h), cutting donuts and zig-zagging — was reckless and endangered the safety of his passengers and others.

“It constitutes a pattern of wanton or reckless behaviour that amounts to a marked and substantial departure from the standard of care of a reasonably prudent operator in the circumstances,” Donegan said.

Brown’s sister, Patty Oliver, said the verdict comes as a relief after more than five years of awaiting justice.

“We all knew in our minds he was guilty,” said Oliver, who watched the trial that spanned 30 days of trial time over six months.

“It wasn’t intentional. It was just stupid.”

Oliver said family and friends, along with people who are still injured from the crash, want an acknowledgement by Reinbrecht.

“You made a mistake,” she said. “Own up to what you did.”

However, it’s not clear if Donegan’s ruling is the last word for Reinbrecht.

Defence lawyer Joe Doyle earlier filed a Charter application putting the court on notice he reserves the right to challenge any conviction based on unreasonable delays. He told Donegan he will take instruction from Reinbrecht whether he wants to continue that application, which has yet to be heard.

The trial heard from more than 50 witnesses, many of whom were on shore or aboard a boat that night. The crash happened after boat traffic on the lake had thinned out, at about 11:15 p.m. Brown was piloting a straight course at a moderate speed toward home.

While Donegan acknowledged Brown was impaired by drugs and alcohol, she ruled there was nothing he could have done to prevent the nearly head-on crash. She also found his houseboat’s green and red navigational lights and a stern light were visible, as was an interior cabin light.

“In my view, the evidence proves that Mr. Brown had no chance to react to the motorboat as it approached . . . Only seconds passed between the motorboat’s last joyriding manoeuvre and its impact with the houseboat.”

The B.C. Supreme Court justice found Reinbrecht had just completed a u-turn and was accelerating back up to 30 m.p.h. (48 km/h) — looking back at his passenger — when his boat slammed into Brown’s houseboat.

“There is no question in my mind that Mr. Reinbrecht’s conduct is sufficient to support the conclusion he bears the necessary moral responsibility,” Donegan ruled.

A conviction of criminal negligence causing death carries with it a maximum sentence of life in prison.

A trial date has been set for two alleged killers accused of gunning down a man in a Salmon Arm schoolyard seven years ago.

In court on Wednesday, lawyers agreed to begin the trial on May 30, 2016, with jury selection slated to take place beforehand.

Tyler Myers was shot to death in a park outside Bastion elementary on Nov. 21, 2008. The 22-year-old’s body was discovered the following day.

Four years later, a 20-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman were arrested and charged with first-degree murder.

Because both accused were youths at the time of the alleged murder, neither can be named under provisions of the Youth Justice Act.

At the time of the arrests, police said both of the accused were known to Myers.

Pre-trial proceedings began in April in B.C. Supreme Court in Kamloops. A jury trial was scheduled to have begun this month, but the pre-trial hearings have taken up all scheduled court time.

The trial is expected to take six weeks.

The male accused is in custody. The female accused is not in custody.

A prolific offender caught on video breaking into buildings at rural property where ATVs and guns were stolen will serve an additional three years in jail, a B.C. Supreme Court justice ruled.

Jason Aran Martin was found guilty after trial of break and enter with intent.

B.C. Supreme Justice Sheri Donegan found Martin travelled to Kamloops in August last year, “mere hours” after being given a conditional sentence in the Lower Mainland for another crime.

Wearing gloves and using a pry bar, he broke open the front gate of a rural property owned by a senior couple. Together with others, Martin then broke into buildings on the property.

A TV, two guns and ammunition along with a gun case and ATVs were taken.

“The trailer, which has been described as their [victims’] sanctuary, their getaway on this rural property, was, for lack of a better term, trashed,” Donegan wrote.

Martin was identified by police from video taken by a security camera on a storage container.

He took police to the location and conceded he was pictured in the video, but did not admit involvement in the crime.

Donegan noted steps Martin took while in jail, including obtaining his Grade 12 diploma, as well as receiving counselling.

The same day Martin was sentenced for break and enter, he was also sentenced in provincial court for breach of a conditional sentence order.

That conditional sentence was terminated by a provincial court judge and he was sent to jail for 13 months.

The three-year term for break and enter with intent will be served after the 13-month sentence.

Cheryl William

The fate of a Kamloops man accused of setting a fatal house fire in 2013 will be in the hands of a jury on Monday.

David Gordon’s trial in B.C. Supreme Court on one count of manslaughter and two counts of causing damage by fire or explosion heard from its last witness on Wednesday afternoon.

He was arrested after a downtown house fire on April 25, 2013, claimed the life of Cheryl William.

Jurors were shown a videotaped interview of Gordon speaking with a police detective in the days after the fire.

In it, he confessed to setting a box of clothes on fire in his bedroom.

William, a guest in the home, was asleep in the living room when the blaze broke out.

Court heard Gordon’s roommate was unable to awaken her before fleeing the house.

In court on Wednesday, an electrical investigator with the B.C. Safety Authority said the blaze was not caused by faulty wiring.

Jurors will return to court on Friday to hear closing arguments.

On Monday, they will be sent to begin their deliberations.

A B.C. Supreme Court jury has been instructed to use common sense and find a Kamloops man guilty of manslaughter in connection to a deadly 2013 house fire.

David Gordon’s trial has been ongoing for two weeks and entered the closing-argument stage on Friday.

Gordon was charged with manslaughter and two counts of causing damage by fire or explosion following an April 25, 2013, house fire at a home on St. Paul Street in downtown Kamloops.

Court has heard Cheryl William was asleep in the house when the blaze began. Efforts by Gordon’s roommate to wake her were unsuccessful. She died in hospital four days later.

About 25 of William’s friends and family members filled one half of the courtroom for closing submissions. Many of them cried when Crown prosecutor Neil Flanagan recounted evidence about the fire.

“A reasonable person would recognize that every time you start a fire in a house, there is a risk that the fire would spread,” he told jurors.

“If there are intoxicated, sleeping people in that house, you would recognize that you might harm them because there’s a risk that the fire could spread.”

Flanagan asked jurors to rely on two facts in arriving at a guilty verdict — the evidence of Gordon’s roommate, who said Gordon told him he lit the fire, and Gordon’s videotaped confession to police days later.

“Mr. Gordon made that admission because he wanted to,” Flanagan said. “Mr. Gordon knew he had been caught.”

Flanagan also focused on Gordon’s actions following the fire. Jurors heard evidence that, after lighting the fire, Gordon told his roommate of the blaze and fled to a neighbour’s house to call 911.

Roommate William Tomporowski said Gordon told him something to the effect of “you are going to die or you two are going to die” before leaving the burning home.

“He does not stay to help put out the fire,” Flanagan said of Gordon. “He does not help in any effort to get Ms. William out.”

Defence lawyer Ken Tessovitch told jurors the fire was likely set by Tomporowski — a notion the roommate outright denied in court last week.

“There’s a significant amount of evidence to suggest that Mr. Tomporowski started the fire,” Tessovitch said in his closing argument. “Mr. Gordon doesn’t have to prove that Mr. Tomporowski lit the fire, but is there enough in his evidence to suggest a reasonable doubt for Mr. Gordon?”

Tessovitch referenced the fact both Gordon and Tomporowski were angry in the moments leading up to the fire — Gordon because his girlfriend had left him and Tomporowski because he had been repeatedly interrupted by Gordon.

In his closing, Tessovitch said Tomporowski fingered Gordon after the fire to deflect blame from himself and raised the question of why Tomporowski was not able to get William out of the burning house.

In his testimony, Tomporowski said the fire grew quickly and smoke knocked him to the ground, forcing him to crawl to a back door. He then alerted his neighbours to the blaze before telling anyone William was still inside.

“Is that behaviour that’s consistent with Tomporowski’s explanation?” Tessovitch asked jurors. “I would suggest it’s not.”

Tessovitch also discounted Gordon’s confession to police, saying Gordon denied lighting the blaze from the start.

“What happens is Mr. Gordon later finally makes a statement after being in custody about 30 hours — and I’m going to suggest to you that statement was made through subtle techniques of the police,” he said.

“What happens is they bring him around from a denial to saying, ‘I lit it,’ It’s not a simple matter, but we all know people sometimes lie to the police — people sometimes admit to things they didn’t do.”

Jurors are expected to begin their deliberations on Monday.

Deanne Wheeler on her 18th birthday.

While the former boyfriend of Deanne Wheeler admitted to killing her at his apartment by strangling and beating her, he will undergo a hearing to determine if he is not criminally responsible by reason of a mental disorder.

Lawyers for the Crown and defence agreed on Friday that a hearing will be set in B.C. Supreme Court for Christopher Butler, who has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

Butler acknowledged in court he killed his former girlfriend, saying she was a demon. His guilty plea was accepted.

He has since a retained a lawyer.

The hearing will determine whether Butler had the mental capacity to form intent to kill Wheeler. If he did not, he will come under the care of the B.C. Review Board.

A date for the hearing has not been set.

In August, a B.C. Supreme Court justice ordered a psychiatric report.

Wheeler, 26, was slain in Butler’s Cherry Avenue apartment in North Kamloops on Dec. 30, 2014.

He told police he strangled Wheeler, describing her as a demon and stating: “When it entered my apartment, I set down the coffee it had bought. 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.’”