Murder trials: One to begin in 2024, one to resume in October

Trial In 2024

A Cache Creek man accused of a 2019 murder in Cache Creek will stand trial in the spring of 2024.

Corey Harkness is scheduled to stand trial on March 11, 2024, on a charge of second-degree murder.

Harkness is accused of shooting Brock Ledoux to death inside a Cache Creek home on Jan.14, 2019. Ledoux had been released from prison a short time before he was killed.

Harkness was slated to stand trial on Feb. 7 when he was arrested in the courthouse on new charges of attempting to obstruct justice and breaching a nocontact order.

It is alleged Harkness contacted trial witness Chelsea Prior on Jan. 31. Harkness had been in custody since February, but court records indicate he has since been released. He had been granted bail twice previously since his arrest on the murder charge.

Trial Resumes In Fall

The trial of a Kamloops man accused of stabbing his neighbour to death after hearing voices in his head is set to resume in October.

Jason Michael Holm, 38, is charged with seconddegree murder in connection with the Aug. 1, 2020, fatal stabbing of Paul Samuel Whitten that occurred in a West End home. Whitten died from upwards of 30 stab wounds and, with his last breath, identified Holm as the killer.

Holm’s trial is set to continue on Oct. 10, according to court records.

The Crown wrapped its case at the end of March, but the defence has yet to do so and intends to call evidence supporting a finding of not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.

Holm had been declared unfit, then fit, to stand trial during pre-trial hearings.

Holm told police after he was arrested that a female voice he referred to as “the one” told him she had been sexually assaulted by Whitten and another neighbour who has since passed away. Holm told police he was angry and couldn’t live without taking action, adding that “the one” drove him to kill Whitten.

Holm also told police that he suffers from schizophrenia delusions and has been hearing the voice of “the one” since he was 20 years old.

The trial is being held before Justice Joel Groves and without a jury.