A B.C. Supreme Court judge will decide Nov. 19 whether two men convicted in Surrey’s worst mass murder will be granted a hearing into allegations of police misconduct in the homicide investigation.
In early October, Cody Haevischer and Matthew Johnston were found guilty of six counts each of first-degree murder and one of conspiracy to murder in the so-called Surrey Six case.
They have yet to be sentenced as their lawyers have requested that Justice Catherine Wedge stay the charges due to abuse of process. Haevischer and Johnston’s defence counsel have alleged police officers had sexual relationships with potential witnesses in the case, and that when arrested, the accused were held in segregation under harsh conditions for an unduly lengthy period of time.
Lawyers for Johnston and Haevischer – members of the Red Scorpion gang – want a full hearing into the allegations, and say their clients would take the stand if a hearing is ordered by the judge. (Neither testified at their murder trial).
The Crown has argued none of the accusations of misconduct are serious enough to warrant throwing out six first-degree murder convictions.
The pair were found guilty of conspiring and carrying out the murder of rival drug dealer Corey Lal, as well as killing his brother Michael, Ryan Bartolomeo, Eddie Narong, and innocent bystanders Ed Schellenberg and Christopher Mohan. The Surrey Six murders took place in an apartment building in Whalley on Oct. 19, 2007.
