A Prince George man who was convicted and then later acquitted of a 1986 double murder in Vancouver when testimony from his wife was ruled inadmissible, has been found guilty of propositioning a 14-year-old girl in the Quesnel public library.
David Raymond Couture was convicted of one count of invitation to sexual touching in Quesnel provincial court on Friday in relation to the April 28, 2010 incident. A pre-sentence report hearing is set for March 14.
In September, Couture was sentenced to one day in jail and one year probation on a conviction for assault after he attacked a Quesnel newspaper reporter when she tried to take his photo outside the community's courthouse in June.
In 2003, when he was living in the Lower Mainland, Couture was convicted of second-degree murder in the slayings of two exotic dancers, Darlinda Lee Ritchey, 27, and Karen Ann Baker, 20 and sentenced to life without parole for 16 years.
According to trial testimony, Couture killed Ritchey because she decided to leave him after a two-year relationship and also killed Baker, who was sleeping over at Ritchey's apartment at the time, to eliminate a witness.
Their bodies were found in a forested area of North Vancouver in December 1986, three months after police believe they were murdered.
In 1989, Couture was serving time for robbery when he met his future wife, Darlene, a spiritual counsellor at the prison. The court was told that after they were married, Couture confessed the murders to his wife and when they later separated, her daughters convinced her to go to police.
However, the couple later reconciled and at the trial she did not testify. Instead her taped conversation was entered as evidence.
Couture appealed on the ground that his wife cannot testify against her husband unless she is the victim of the offence. In 2007, in a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld a B.C. Court of Appeal finding that the wife's statements should not be admitted as evidence because defence lawyers had no opportunity to cross-examine her.
The subsequent second trial ended with the judge acquitting Couture due to a lack of evidence.
Because Couture was acquitted, the judge will not be able to take the incident into consideration when determining a sentence on the latest conviction.
