Murder conviction tossed

The B.C. Court of Appeal has ordered a new trial for a Nakazdli man serving a life sentence for a grisly, drug-related murder committed seven years ago on the reserve outside Fort St. James.

In a decision issued Friday, a three-judge panel found the judge overseeing the trial for James David Junior Charlie failed to properly explain to the jury the law on liability for murder.

It was the Crown's theory that Charlie was one of four men who, on the night of Jan. 12, 2012, assaulted Fribjon Bjornson in the basement of a home on the reserve and that Charlie provided a wire or cord to one of the others knowing he would use it to strangle the victim.

After hearing testimony over a span of five weeks, jury members deliberated for two days before reaching their verdict in October 2017. On seeking a retrial, Charlie's counsel argued the judge erred in several ways in answering the jury’s questions during deliberations..

While Crown prosecution disputed most of the grounds, it conceded the judge erred in failing to instruct the jury that the party must have known the principal intended to commit the crime to be convicted of the crime.

The panel agreed with the Crown.

"While this conclusion is a burden to all those interested in pressing the case to a decisive conclusion, particularly the family and friends of Mr. Bjornson, and also those called on to take part in the trial, in my view, the verdict must be set aside and a new trial ordered," Justice Mary Saunders said in the decision written on behalf of the panel.

Charlie was sentenced to life in prison without eligibility for parole for 25 years and to a concurrent term of three years for indignity to a human body. In June 2018, co-accused Wesley Duncan and Jesse Bird were sentenced to life without parole for at least 15 years after they pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. Charlie's sister, Theresa, who had been in custody for 3 1/2 years, was sentenced to time served on a count of indignity to a dead body.

Bjornson had been buying drugs from Charlie and his friends in the time leading up to his death. His body was subsequently dismembered and his head wrapped in a blanket and left in an abandoned house near the scene of the murder, the court had heard during the trial.

In a posting on Facebook, Bjornson's mother, Eileen, provided a reaction to the decision.

"I am so damn angry and sick to my stomach! They have granted an appeal to James Charlie Jr. based on a technicality.

"We have to go through this whole thing again! Why can’t he take responsibility for his actions. He helped murder Frib and he should pay the price. Instead we have to face all of this again. It is unbelievable!!!!"