Jeffry Todd Taylor and Leanne MacFarlane. File photo.

Jeffry Todd Taylor and Leanne MacFarlane. File photo.

Evidence hearings begin for 2010 double-murder suspects

A process that determines evidence admissibility ahead of trial proceedings has begun in Vancouver

A process determining evidence admissibility is currently underway involving two men charged with first degree murder in a tragic case of mistaken identity nearly a decade ago.

Colin Correia and Sheldon Hunter are both charged with first degree murder for their alleged role in the shooting deaths of Leanne Laura MacFarlane and Jeffrey Todd Taylor at a rural home outside Cranbrook in 2010.

The case is tentatively scheduled for trial in April 2020, however, the matter is currently in a voir dire — a legal process that determines the admissibility of evidence.

READ: Arrests made in 2010 case of innocent couple killed

Voir dire hearings expected to run for two months began in Vancouver Supreme Court last week, where the trial is also scheduled to be tried next year.

Both Correia and Hunter were arrested in Alberta last year, as RCMP had been investigating the case in conjunction with several law enforcement agencies for eight years.

On May 29, 2010, police were called to a shooting at a home outside Cranbrook where officers discovered a dead woman and a man in critical condition who later died from his injuries.

Police determined that while it appeared to be a targeted incident, the victims were not the intended targets.

MacFarlane, 43, and Taylor, 42, had moved from Salmon Arm to Cranbrook to open a second business in addition to their cell phone retail store Shuswap Wireless Connections which operated in the Mall at Piccadilly.

They had been living in the house for three months before their deaths.


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Cranbrook Townsman