John Ike Koopmans has been found guilty of second-degree murder in the deaths of Robert Keith Wharton and his girlfriend Rosemary Fox.
Jurors in Penticton delivered the verdict this afternoon after three days of deliberations following the eight-week trial.
Koopmans, 51, was also found guilty of attempted murder of Bradley Martin, who was shot in the chest and with Wharton and Fox at the time, but survived.
Martin, Wharton and Fox were in a home just outside Princeton on March 30, 2013 when the triple shooting happened.
RCMP found Wharton and Fox dead in their bed, both shot three times. They arrested Koopmans, who was friends with the two, on March 31. DNA evidence liked blood on Koopmans’ jeans to that of Wharton and Fox.
Crown prosecutors argued that Koopmans killed the two because he believed they were involved in a break and enter that allegedly occurred on his property.
Koopmans claimed the blood came from a massive splinter from 10 days earlier when he and Wharton were sorting lumber.
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His lawyers also attempted to discredit Martin’s evidence, portraying him as a drug user and a paranoid schizophrenic.
The automatic penalty for second-degree murder is a life sentence, but a judge will determine when Koopmans will be eligible for parole.
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