The court case of two men convicted of murder following the Surrey Six case is not over.
The B.C. Court of Appeal has affirmed the guilty verdicts of Cody Haevischer and Matthew Johnston but that is not the end.
The judges have quashed their convictions to the extent of allowing the men to go back to B.C. Supreme Court so it can hear abuse of process application.
The full reasons for this decision are not being released until lawyers can be sure it does not disclose any confidential information.
Haevischer and Johnston were both convicted of six counts of first-degree murder in 2014 for the 2007 killings and were sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.
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At trial, Crown outlined how the killings at Surrey’s Balmoral Tower were meant as revenge for an unpaid debt between rival gangs.
But among the dead were two innocent victims, fireplace repairman Ed Schellenberg and Chris Mohan, a neighbour of one of the intended targets.
Haevischer and Johnston’s defence told the court that the B.C. Supreme Court trial judge had erred in his handling of the case.
Those errors allegedly included excluding the defendants from portions of the trial, and defence questioned why one hearing about an informant went from a scheduled five days to almost 40.
Defence argued the judge had also erred in assessing the reliability of two witnesses.
In September, gang leader Jamie Bacon was sentenced for his role in the killings after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit murder in July.
Given credit for time served, Bacon’s 18-year sentence amounted to five years and seven months.
More to come.