A new trial has been ordered for four men accused of kidnapping, confining and severely beating a man in a drug-related conflict before he escaped by jumping out a second floor window of a Ferndale home.
Provincial Court Associate Chief Judge Michael Brecknell told the court Wednesday he has reassigned the case to Judge Dan Weatherly because Judge Darrell O'Byrne has fallen ill.
Michael Andrew Joseph Fitzgerald faces 19 charges and Francois Christiaan Meerholz, Dillan Meerholz and Craig Anthony Niedermayer each face 10 counts in relation to the April 15, 2012 incident that saw the man flee to the neighouring Ferndale community hall.
In issuing his decision, Brecknell urged the five lawyers involved in the case - Crown prosecutor Tyler Bowman and the four defence lawyers representing each of the accused - to consider submissions to Weatherly on whether portions of the previous trial can be introduced into the new one.
Roughly seven days of testimony was heard in January and in mid-February, O'Byrne ruled that the RCMP's decision to search the home without a warrant was not a violation of the Charter rights of the accused.
During testimony in the trial proper, the alleged victim, who cannot be named under a court-ordered publication ban, testified he was being blamed for the loss of about seven kilograms of marijuana from a grow operation in Salmon Valley.
He testified he had been held for about six days in the home after being taken at gunpoint from a crack shack in the VLA and had been stapled with a tack hammer, his cheek pierced with gardening shears, and had been kicked, jumped and stomped on.
Among his injuries, the man said he had suffered a collapsed lung and blood was leaking into his chest cavity. He was in hospital for at least two days, with an RCMP guard at his door, while the blood was being pumped out.
The trial had been set to resume on July 22. Brecknell strongly urged counsel to clear their calendars for dates in May, June and July so that the proceedings can be concluded in short order, noting the four have remained in custody for nearly a year since their arrrests.
A fix date hearing has tentatively been set for April 24.
