Crown failed to prove murder plot at Surrey Six trial: defence

Members of the RCMP search the property surrounding an apartment building where six people died in a mulitple homicide in Surrey, B.C. Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2007. (Jonathan Hayward / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

VANCOUVER -- The defence lawyer for one of two men on trial for a mass gang killing near Vancouver says the Crown has failed to prove its theory about why six people were murdered.

Cody Haevischer and Matthew Johnston are on trial for conspiracy and six counts of first-degree murder for the shooting, which killed two innocent bystanders, in a highrise condo in Surrey, B.C., in October 2007.

The Crown's theory has been that the Red Scorpions plotted to kill a rival drug trafficker named Corey Lal and that five other people were killed to eliminate potential witnesses.

But lawyer Michael Tammen, who represents Johnston, says the only evidence that there was any plot to murder Lal came from two former gangsters who he says repeatedly lied.

Tammen says the court shouldn't believe any evidence from a witness known only as Person Y and former Red Scorpions gang leader Michael Le, who pleaded guilty last fall to conspiracy in connection to the case.

Tammen says even if the judge believes there was a conspiracy, there is no evidence to suggest Johnston was involved in hatching the plot.