Attorney General backs Crown lawyers at delayed murder-suicide inquest
May 8, 2008VICTORIA - B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal is defending a decision that two Crown lawyers not be called to testify before a coroner's inquest into a multiple murder-suicide in Victoria.
The province's criminal justice branch, which oversees Crown attorneys, says it's an issue that sends chills through Canada's legal system
During question period, the Opposition NDP asked the solicitor general, responsible for the coroner's service, whether he agreed with Coroner Jeff Dolan's decision to call the Crown lawyers to testify.
But it was Attorney General Wally Oppal who took the questions, first urging the House to allow the inquest to "take its course," then pointing out that B.C.'s Crown Counsel Act confers independence and discretion upon members of the criminal justice branch.
He said the Criminal Justice Branch made an independent decision to appeal Dolan's order, a decision that means the inquest is on hold indefinitely.
The inquest into last September's killing of an Oak Bay mother, her six-year-old son and her parents and the suicide of her estranged husband adjourned Wednesday pending the outcome of the appeal.
