James David Junior Charlie was convicted of the first-degree murder of Fribjon Bjornson, which occurred in 2012 near Fort St. James.
Now a new trial has been announced.
The highest court in the province, the Court of Appeal for British Columbia, formally announced that the existing verdict “cannot be saved”, concluding that “a new trial is required.”
The trial was ordered on the assertion that the judge failed to provide the jury with critical information, including all potential verdicts.
While Madam Justice Saunders acknowledged, the burden to family and friends of Bjornson, as well as those called on to participate in the trial, she admitted: “in my view, the verdict must be set aside.”
In the first trial that resulted in his conviction, Charlie pleaded guilty to offering indignities to a dead body or human remains.
The full report is available online.
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