Episode 3: R. v. Johnston
His Majesty the King v. Matthew James Johnston, et al.
The respondents, Matthew James Johnston and Cody Rae Haevischer, were convicted at of six counts of first-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder at trial. They applied for a stay of proceedings under section 24(1) of the Charter alleging that their pretrial custody conditions as well as police misconduct during the initial investigation constituted an abuse of process. The Crown brought an application for a summary dismissal of the application without an evidentiary hearing. Following a Vukelich hearing, the trial judge granted the Crown’s application and declined to hold a full evidentiary hearing, finding that the circumstances of the offence were too serious to warrant a stay of proceedings. In 2021, the Court of Appeal for British Columbia dismissed seven grounds of appeal but allowed one, finding that the trial judge erred in summarily dismissing the applications for a stay of proceedings and that an evidentiary hearing was necessary. The Court of Appeal for British Columbia quashed the convictions, affirmed the verdicts of guilt, and ordered an evidentiary hearing on allegations of abuse of process. The Supreme Court of Canada granted leave to appeal.