A lawyer for Surrey Six killer Cody Haevischer argued that a judge must consider alleged police misconduct before deciding whether charges against his client should be stayed. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in April that police misconduct in the Surrey Six investigation warranted an evidentiary hearing.
A lawyer representing Surrey Six killer Cody Haevischer argued on Monday that a judge must thoroughly examine all issues related to alleged police misconduct before deciding whether charges against his client should be dismissed. The request comes after the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in April that police misconduct in the Surrey Six investigation warranted an evidentiary hearing. Haevischer and his co-accused Matthew Johnston were convicted of the murder of six men in 2014. The lawyers for both men argued that misconduct by some officers on the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team was so severe that a full evidentiary hearing should have been held during the original trial. The officers were found to have engaged in inappropriate behavior with potential witnesses and were later convicted of obstruction of justice. Haevischer’s lawyer also argued that his client was held in deplorable pretrial conditions, which should be taken into account when considering a stay of proceedings. Johnston died of cancer in 2022. The evidentiary hearing is scheduled to begin in October 2024. The defense plans to call former investigators in the case as witnesses and wants to call Crown prosecutors who worked on the trial. Both Haevischer and Johnston were convicted of six counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy in a 2007 plot to kill rival gangster Corey Lal..