Guilty verdict, but BC bombing trial could be stayed before sentencing

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – There may be a guilty verdict from the jury but the terror trial for the couple from Surrey who attempted to bomb the BC Legislature in 2013 isn’t over yet.

There is a possibility John Nuttall and Amanda Korody may never be sentenced for plotting to set off handmade pressure-cooker bombs because BC Supreme Court Justice Catherine Bruce will now be hearing arguments from their lawyers that the they were entrapped.

“The next step is the defence is bringing application for a stay of proceedings, an application that takes place after the conclusion of the verdict portion of the case,” says News1130 legal analyst Michael Shapray.

If the defense is successful, it would end the trial before the sentencing phase.

At issue is whether undercover RCMP officers actually encouraged the pair to commit the crime or simply provided the opportunity for them to do it.

Nuttall’s lawyer Marilyn Sandford argues that it is pretty clear.

“The RCMP manufactured this crime and that is not permissible in our law,” said Sandford outside BC Supreme Court in Vancouver. “We also have other arguments that the police themselves committed crimes. They were involved in exactly the same activities, to a large extent, that our clients were, at least some of them.”

While the issue has always been part of the case, Crown prosecutor Peter Eccles says it was never a question for the jury.

“Entrapment has been mentioned over the last few months, off and on it has popped up in the press, but entrapment is not an issue for the jury, it was never an issue for the jury, and now it will be an issue for the judge.”

Shapray says that is because entrapment is a straight legal argument.

“Legal issues are always heard by a judge alone. The jury does not make decisions on legal cases,” he tells us. “Just like pretrial applications are heard by the judge prior to the jury being empanelled, entrapment is a legal issue to be heard by a judge after the jury has been dismissed having done its work as a finder of fact.”

Arguments are expected to begin next week and could take a month. Justice Bruce will then decide if there should be a stay of proceedings.

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