Murder trial stemming from 2020 Kamloops stabbing delayed until 2023

A Kamloops man charged in connection with a fatal stabbing in downtown Kamloops in September of 2020 will not head to trial until 2023.

James Dylan Sanford, 34, is charged with the second-degree murder of 33-year-old Daniel Thomas Myles, on Sept. 12, 2020.

Due to scheduling conflicts among lawyers, jury selection won’t take place until Jan. 5, 2023.

Sanford’s counsel, Jay Michi, said the trial is to take place over the course of a month and the Kamloops Law Courts didn’t have the appropriate availability until the fall, during which time he isn’t available.

The trial will involve two Crown prosecutors and two defence counsel and the earliest their respective availabilities lined up was next January, Michi said.

Sanford has been free on bail since December 2020 and is under house arrest at a location outside Kamloops.

Sanford is also facing a separate drug trafficking charges involving two counts trafficking in a controlled substance (heroin/fentanyl).

Police were called to the 1300-block of Columbia Street at 6:30 a.m. on Sept. 12, 2020, where Myles was found with serious injuries. He was tended to by paramedics and taken to Royal Inland Hospital, where he died. He had been stabbed in the chest.

Mounties said the stabbing was preceded by an altercation in the parking lot of the Acadian Motor Inn at 1390 Columbia St. Sanford was arrested at about 8:30 a.m. that day. According to police, the stabbing was preceded by events that began at about 3 a.m.

Former Kamloops RCMP Staff Sgt. Simon Pillay said at the time that Myles was also dealing wth criminal charges that were before the court and was under release conditions that included no-contact conditions, including not to be at the Acadian Motor Inn, where he was stabbed.

Pillay said Sanford and the victim knew each other. He said police do not believe the stabbing death was related to drug trafficking or organized crime.

— This story was originally published by Kamloops This Week.