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A judge has ordered that a lawyer be appointed to review claims for additional
expenses by seven accused, including two Hells Angels, whose murder trial has
been moved to Vancouver from Kelowna.
In June, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Arne Silverman granted a Crown application for a change of venue for the accused charged in the June 2011 murder of Kelowna resident Dain Phillips.
In July, the accused applied to have the court grant additional expenses — expenses that might be additional to ordinary expenses an accused would incur if there had been no change of venue.
The judge ordered that the B.C. government should nominate a reviewer, a lawyer independent of the criminal proceedings, to examine requests for such expenses.
He said it was a case where it was impossible to anticipate what additional expenses may be incurred, whether they were warranted and in what amounts.
“The evidence before me does not adequately demonstrate what additional expenses may arise as this case progresses,” said the judge, who noted that payment of such expenses is not intended to be a windfall for the accused.
The reviewer should only approve expenses that are reasonable and appropriate, are caused as a result of the move and reflect a “reasonable minimum expenditure of public money,” he added.
None of the expense claims will be disclosed without consent of the claimant or by order of the court, said Silverman.
Hells Angels Robert Leonard Thomas and Norman Robert Cocks have been charged in the murder of Phillips.
Cocks’ father, Robert Charles Cocks, the president of the Hells Angels support club The Throttle Lockers, is also charged, along with associates Thomas Allen Vaughan, Anson Lloyd Schell, Daniel Joseph McRae and Matthew Thomas McRae.
Phillips was killed while he was trying to settle a dispute between his two sons and two brothers they’d known in high school, according to police.
During a brawl between two groups of men, Phillips was struck on the head by an assailant wielding a baseball bat, leaving him unconscious. He died later in hospital.
Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/Hells+angels/5018968/story.html#ixzz28YeR5xof
In June, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Arne Silverman granted a Crown application for a change of venue for the accused charged in the June 2011 murder of Kelowna resident Dain Phillips.
In July, the accused applied to have the court grant additional expenses — expenses that might be additional to ordinary expenses an accused would incur if there had been no change of venue.
The judge ordered that the B.C. government should nominate a reviewer, a lawyer independent of the criminal proceedings, to examine requests for such expenses.
He said it was a case where it was impossible to anticipate what additional expenses may be incurred, whether they were warranted and in what amounts.
“The evidence before me does not adequately demonstrate what additional expenses may arise as this case progresses,” said the judge, who noted that payment of such expenses is not intended to be a windfall for the accused.
The reviewer should only approve expenses that are reasonable and appropriate, are caused as a result of the move and reflect a “reasonable minimum expenditure of public money,” he added.
None of the expense claims will be disclosed without consent of the claimant or by order of the court, said Silverman.
Hells Angels Robert Leonard Thomas and Norman Robert Cocks have been charged in the murder of Phillips.
Cocks’ father, Robert Charles Cocks, the president of the Hells Angels support club The Throttle Lockers, is also charged, along with associates Thomas Allen Vaughan, Anson Lloyd Schell, Daniel Joseph McRae and Matthew Thomas McRae.
Phillips was killed while he was trying to settle a dispute between his two sons and two brothers they’d known in high school, according to police.
During a brawl between two groups of men, Phillips was struck on the head by an assailant wielding a baseball bat, leaving him unconscious. He died later in hospital.
Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/Hells+angels/5018968/story.html#ixzz28YeR5xof