Verdict delayed for speedboat operator accused in B.C. lake death

KAMLOOPS, B.C. – A speedboat operator accused of driving erratically and killing the driver of a houseboat will have to wait a month to learn his fate.

Leon Reinbrecht is charged with criminal negligence causing death and criminal negligence causing bodily harm in the July 2010 crash on Shuswap Lake that claimed the life of Ken Brown.

Reinbrecht’s trial began in B.C. Supreme Court earlier this year.

Justice Sheri Donegan was slated to deliver her verdict Wednesday but will now wait until Oct. 27.

Multiple witnesses testified about seeing a speedboat being driven erratically on the busy lake in the moments leading up to the crash, which followed a post-Canada Day fireworks display.

Defence lawyers repeatedly focused their questioning on whether the houseboat was properly lit.

An expert witness for the defence testified the lighting system was not working at the time of the crash, and police admitted they failed to check it.

Justin Beaumont, an expert in marine-vessel investigations, also raised questions about the police investigation.

At one point during the trial, an RCMP corporal who investigated the crash contacted Beaumont’s employer, the Canadian Coast Guard, to see if the man would be in conflict by testifying.

Toxicology reports showed Brown was impaired at the time of his death. The Crown put forward no evidence about whether Reinbrecht was intoxicated, but a witness who was on the speedboat said Reinbrecht had been drinking.

In his closing argument in June, defence lawyer Joe Doyle compared Brown to a driver on a highway without headlights.

“This is running into an unlit vessel that’s moving, that should have had its lights on,” Doyle said.

“He (Brown) shouldn’t have been out there.” (Kamloops This Week)

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier version incorrectly reported the verdict will be delivered on Oct. 21.