Mistrial declared in Jamie Bacon's murder plot trial

A B.C. Supreme Justice has declared a mistrial in Jamie Bacon's murder plot trial. The case has been put over to June 14 to fix a new trial date. PNG

Jamie Bacon faced trial on one count of counselling someone to commit murder, but the jury failed to reach a decision

After deliberating for two and a half days, the jurors deciding the fate of Jamie Bacon told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Catherine Wedge Saturday that they were deadlocked and could not reach a verdict.

So Wedge declared a mistrial and put the case over to June 14 to fix a new trial date.

Jurors began deliberating Thursday after hearing three and a half months of evidence and submissions about whether or not Bacon ordered a hit on his former drug gang associate Dennis Karbovanec in late 2008.

He is charged with one count of counselling someone to commit murder for the botched shooting.

Jurors heard that Bacon was concerned that Karbovanec was addicted to OxyContin, increasingly erratic, sleeping with young women and neglecting their joint drug business.

Witnesses, who can only be identified as AB and CD due to a publication ban, both testified that Bacon asked CD to shoot Karbovanec and provided the Glock 45 used in the murder attempt.


Both men said they went to Bacon’s Abbotsford home where he told them what he wanted done using hand gestures and a whiteboard.

AB said Bacon was his boss in the drug trade and therefore he was willing to help arrange the hit on Karbovanec.

AB described what happened on New Year’s Eve 2008 when he, CD and others in their drug gang lured Karbovanec into meeting them at the Mission Athletic Park on the ruse that they were all going to rob a nearby marijuana growing operation.

They then drove to the dead end of Bench Avenue sometime after 10 p.m., where they stopped the two vehicles they were in and got out, the two witnesses said.

CD pulled out the Glock and started blasting in Karbovanec’s direction, grazing his head and striking him in the lower back, the jury heard. Karbovanec and Matt Johnston both ran off, escaping through some bushes.

Karbovanec later showed up at Mission Memorial Hospital, collapsing just inside. Video of him entering the emergency room was played for jurors.

Hospital employees testified about treating Karbovanec that night. One of them said she called 911 to report that a shooting victim had arrived.

Jurors were also shown video of an animated Karbovanec describing the shooting during an interview with police. The clips were very short and most of what he told police appeared to have been edited out prior to it being shown.

Karbovanec did not testify at Bacon’s trial despite being the victim of the failed hit.

But the credibility of both AB and CD was a big part of the cross-examinations as well as the closing arguments by Bacon’s lawyers, Kimberly Eldred and Kevin Drolet. Both witnesses admitted to years of criminality — running drug lines, doing robberies, threatening and beating people.

Eldred and Drolet portrayed the two witnesses as thuggish drug-dealing liars who fabricated Bacon’s role in the murder plot to get themselves off the hook.

And they suggested both former gangsters had entered into deals with the police for financial gain.

Eldred and Drolet also attacked problems of the police investigation during the trial.

Drolet did the closing submission on May 22, urging the jury to acquit Bacon and reject the evidence of AB and CD.

But Crown prosecutor Joe Bellows said in his final submissions that even though the investigation was not perfect, jurors should focus on the totality of the evidence.

Bacon had plenty of reasons to want Karbovanec dead, the veteran prosecutor argued.


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