B.C. man pleads guilty to 4 counts of 2nd-degree murder; Crown rejects plea

Cody Alan Legebokoff is shown in a B.C. RCMP handout photo.

PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. -- An accused serial killer tried to plead guilty to four counts of second-degree murder at the end of his three-month trial in Prince George, B.C.

Just as the judge was about to give his final instructions to the jury, Cody Legebokoff told the court he wasn't guilty of first-degree murder, but would plead guilty to the lesser charges.

The change in plea was rejected by the Crown prosecutor, who told the trial in final submissions that Legebokoff planned the murders, sexually assaulted his victims, and should be convicted of the more serious charges of first-degree murder.

Legebokoff has claimed that while he was involved in the killings of Jill Stuchenko, Cynthia Maas and Natasha Montgomery, three other people which he identified as X, Y and Z carried out the murders.

As for the death of Loren Donn Leslie, the partially-blind 15-year-old girl whose body was found in a remote wooded area, Legebokoff testified he struck the girl with a pipe wrench but the act wasn't planned and deliberate.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Glen Parrett was to start instructing the jury on factors to consider during their deliberations, however trouble with the court's sound system delayed the proceeding.