B.C. Court of Appeal orders new trial in Cranbrook double homicide

B.C's highest court has ordered a new trial for one of two men accused of a 2010 double homicide in Cranbrook.

Colin Raymond Correia and Sheldon Joseph Hunter were acquitted in B.C. Supreme Court of the first-degree murder of Jeffrey Todd Taylor and his partner, Leanne MacFarlane.

But this week, the B.C. Court of Appeal overturned the verdict — finding the lower court judge should have considered self-incriminating statements Correia made to investigators found inadmissible at trial because they were obtained through "police trickery."

Writing for the three-person panel, Justice Mary Saunders stated:  "I conclude that a fair and objective consideration of the transcript reveals no evidence of police conduct that could reasonably be seen as "police trickery."

Killings a case of 'mistaken Identity'

On May 29, 2010, Cranbrook RCMP responded to calls of a shooting at a rented rural residence near Highway 93 and discovered the body of MacFarlane, 43, and a critically injured Taylor, 42.

Four men, including Correia, were arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and counselling to commit the offences of aggravated assault and murder.

At the time, RCMP said all four men were known to police and argued a murder plan was hatched out of revenge for a shooting in a Cranbrook bar in 2009

"The theory of the Crown was that Mr. Correia and a co‑accused were members of a gang engaged in criminal activity, including dealing in illicit drugs, and that they attended the residence intending to kill Doug Mahon, a member of the rival gang who had resided there previously," the appeal court ruling said.

"The Crown contends that unknown to Mr. Correia and his co‑accused, Mr. Mahon had moved from the residence months before the shootings, and it had been re‑let to Ms. MacFarlane and Mr. Taylor. In the Crown's theory, the two victims were shot and killed by mistake."

In 2013, Correia was convicted of the conspiracy to murder Mahon and sentenced to 13 years in prison.

Saunders wrote, "Mr. Correia had served a significant portion of his sentence for conspiracy to murder and was on parole when he was arrested on June 8, 2018, and charged with the two counts of murder" related to MacFarlane and Taylor.

Correia was arrested in Edmonton, where he was living with his family and working as a foreman building a tunnel for the Edmonton Transit System.

He was taken to the Sherwood Park RCMP detachment, where an interview team had already been preparing for a two‑day interrogation.

Saunders wrote, "By Saturday, the accused had begun to make what the Crown would argue are incriminating statements."

The appeal court ruling quotes the trial judge talking about police demeanour during the interrogation.

"The interview approach of the team was not one of yelling, accusing, or insulting. Rather, some might call it an approach that used logic to convince him that he would benefit in many ways if he told the police the truth, the judge wrote. Others might call it an approach that used manipulation and/or trickery to convince him that he would benefit in many ways if he told the police the truth."

The trial judge ruled those statements to be inadmissible during pre-trial proceedings, finding that police suggested to Correia that he couldn't self-incriminate because he had already served time for the conspiracy against Mahon. 

'Understood the ramifications'

After a number of COVID-19-related trial delays, Correia was found not guilty of the murder charges in April 2022.

On appeal, the Crown argued Correia's statements should have been heard during the trial and that the verdict would have been different had they been considered.  

The appeal court judges agreed — finding that Correia understood he faced the possibility of a murder trial and "understood the ramifications of such a conviction."

"The police clearly related the purpose of the interviews to Mr. Correia, which was to gather information in relation to the murders for which Mr. Correia had been arrested," the ruling says.

"There simply was no evidence that objectively supports the view that the police tricked Mr. Correia by somehow confusing him on his protection regarding the conspiracy to murder Doug Mahon with the serious jeopardy he faced on the two charges of murder he was facing."

A new trial date has not yet been set.