A defence lawyer representing a 40-year-old charged with attempted murder in connection with an assault of a teen who was beaten into a coma will apply to move the trial to Kelowna.
Lawyers spoke briefly Monday in B.C. Supreme Court in Kamloops to set trial dates for Kristopher Teichrieb. He is facing charges of attempted murder and aggravated assault in connection with the beating last year of Jessie Simpson.
The then-18-year-old Simpson — who is now 20 — was assaulted in the early-morning hours of June 19, 2016, in the vicinity of Holt Street and Clifford Avenue in Brocklehurst.
Simpson’s friends and family have said the Savona teen and South Kamloops secondary student was celebrating high school graduation the night before the attack and may have been searching for a group of friends when he was assaulted.
Teichrieb’s lawyer, Jordan Watt, has filed an application to move the trial from Kamloops due to the notoriety of the incident, in order to give his client a fair trial. A date will be set next month to hear the application.
Teichrieb was arrested within minutes of the June 2016 incident and has been in custody since.
A trial date had been set for Jan. 8 in Kamloops.
After spending months in a coma, Simpson began to wake up following a brain surgery in January. Since then, Simpson’s condition has fluctuated and he has been sent to Royal Inland Hospital’s intensive-care unit multiple times.
Simpson’s mother, Susanna Simpson, told KTW last month that his condition had improved a bit, though he remains in hospital. In June, a B.C. Supreme Court judge declared Simpson legally infirm, appointing his mother to act on his behalf.
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