High Court to rule on hearing over police misdeeds during gang murder investigation
By The Canadian Press on April 28, 2023.
OTTAWA – The Supreme Court of Canada will rule today on a gangland murder case from 2007 out of Surrey, B.C., where two men convicted of the crimes claim the investigation was tainted by police misconduct. Gangsters Cody Haevischer and Matthew Johnston were both found guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy in 2014, seven years after the executions of six people in a Surrey highrise apartment building. Two of the victims, Christopher Mohan and Ed Schellenberg, were innocent bystanders in the apartment when they were gunned down alongside Corey Lal, Michael Lal, Eddie Narong and Ryan Bartolomeo. The question before the high court is whether police misconduct during the investigation, and Johnston and Haevischer’s treatment in prison, warrants a hearing of evidence to determine if the convictions were tainted by an abuse of process. The B.C. Court of Appeal ruled in 2021 that there should be a hearing, but Crown prosecutors appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada, claiming no “factual controversies” remained in the case to force another hearing. Johnston died of cancer in prison in December 2022, but today’s ruling is Haevischer’s last chance to challenge his conviction due to police misconduct, which the high court has heard included sexual relationships with witnesses. This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 28, 2023. 8-7
