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Written by THE CANADIAN PRESS
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Wednesday, 23 July 2008 |
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VANCOUVER - A man accused of killing two B.C. women 22 years ago has been acquitted of second-degree murder at his second trial.
David Raymond Couture was charged with murdering his girlfriend, 27-year-old Darlinda Ritchey, and her 20-year-old friend Karen Baker.
The exotic dancers disappeared in September 1986 and their bodies were found three months later in a North Vancouver garbage dump.
The Crown argued Couture killed Ritchey in a jealous rage and killed Baker because she was staying with Ritchey.
But a B.C. Supreme Court judge acquitted Couture Wednesday, saying there wasn't enough evidence to convict Couture.
Couture was convicted at his first trial five years ago, but in June 2007 the Supreme Court of Canada ordered a new trial after ruling that statements made by his wife should not have been admitted as evidence.
In statements made to police in 1997, Couture's wife said her husband had confessed to the two murders in 1989.
Members of Ritchey's family who attended the trial were upset as they left court.
"I just wanted to stand up and scream," Kerry Currie, her stepmother, told Vancouver radio station CKNW outside the court house. "The families of these girls have no rights whatsoever. And he walks away a free man."
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 07 September 2008 )
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