Red Scorpions gangster Jamie Bacon won’t be released from jail before his trial begins in April, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Catherine Wedge ruled on Tuesday.
If Wedge had released Bacon, it would have been the first time since April 3, 2009, that he’d been free in the community.
Wedge heard submissions from prosecutors opposing Bacon’s release, as well as his defence lawyers advocating bail over two days in December.
Because of a routine ban on publication, no details of the evidence or submissions made at the hearing can be reported.
Two officers stand guard outside the Vancouver courthouse where gangster Jamie Bacon was denied bail Tuesday. He will remain in custody pending his trial in April for charge of counseling murder. Photo: Mike Bell, Postmedia.
Bacon’s mother Susan attended both of the hearing days. His father David was there only on Dec. 22. They were both in the courtroom today.
Bacon, 32, was charged with murder and conspiracy in connection with the infamous 2007 Surrey Six slayings.
But on Dec. 1, 2017, Justice Kathleen Ker stayed those charges with little explanation after a secret hearing. The Crown has announced that it filed an appeal of Ker’s ruling.
Bacon still faces a charge of counselling to commit an indictable offence — murder — for the failed hit on a former gang associate in December 2008. The man survived the shooting.
That charge is scheduled to go to trial in April 2018. Bacon is seeking to be released until then.
There are three general reasons why someone can be denied bail. The first is that they might not appear for their trial. The second is that there is a likelihood that they would commit a crime or be a threat to public safety if released. And the third is that the public’s confidence in the administration of justice would be harmed by the release. A person may be detained for one or more of those reasons.
Because of the ban, Postmedia is not allowed to report the grounds on which the Crown is seeking to hold Bacon in custody.
Bacon appeared before Wedge in courtroom 20 both in red prison garb, his arms covered in tattoos, and in a shirt and dress pants on the second day of his hearing.
He was originally charged with plotting the murder of gang rival Corey Lal, as well as Lal’s first-degree murder on Oct. 19, 2007 in a Surrey high-rise.
Hitmen from Bacon’s Red Scorpion gang — Cody Haevischer and Matthew Johnston — were convicted of forcing their way into a penthouse apartment in the Balmoral Tower and executing Lal, his brother Michael and drug dealers Ryan Bartolomeo and Eddie Narong, as well as bystanders Chris Mohan and Ed Schellenberg. The hitmen were accompanied by a man who can only be identified as Person X. He earlier pled guilty to second-degree murder.
Both Haevischer and Johnston were convicted of first-degree murder, but have appealed their convictions.
