Bacon brother gets separate trial in Surrey Six gang hit

VANCOUVER – Jamie Bacon, one of three notorious brothers police have linked to Vancouver’s gang war, will be tried by himself on charges related to the massacre of six men in a suburban apartment building in 2007.

Neil MacKenzie, a spokesman for the B.C. Criminal Justice Branch, says Bacon’s trial has been split from that of three other co-accused in order to allow Bacon to bring up matters that apply only to his case, including issues of solicitor-client privilege.

Police have said four of the victims in the so-called Surrey Six murders were gang related, but the other two were simply innocent bystanders in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Last month, Bacon lost an appeal of a conviction on weapons offences that sent him to prison for seven years.

Bacon’s middle brother, Jarrod, is serving a 12-year-sentence after being convicted in May on drug trafficking charges, while his eldest brother, Jonathan, was shot to death in a gang hit in Kelowna last August.

MacKenzie says pre-trial applications in the matter have begun, but trial dates have not been set and it’s unlikely the jury trials will begin before next year.