Jacob and Clara Forman are seen in a family photo posted to Facebook.
Image Credit: Facebook
September 03, 2019 - 2:20 PM
KELOWNA - It’s been nearly two years since Jacob Forman was charged in the deaths of his wife and two young daughters and today he finally entered a plea.
Jacob Forman appeared in court today, Sept. 3, and pleaded not guilty to two charges of first degree murder relating to the deaths of his elementary school-age daughters, Karina and Yesenia and one charge of second degree murder, in the death of his wife Clara.
Shackled, and wearing prison red, Forman entered the plea midway through a voir dire, where evidence ahead of the Nov. 4 trial is being discussed.
Among the topics being discussed are non-incriminating interviews Forman gave Dec. 20, 2017, a day after his arrest and again on Dec. 21, 2017, before being transferred to the Okanagan Correctional Centre. The courts are also looking at a Dec. 27 call he made to the RCMP, where he confessed to the killings. Whether this confession will be admissible remains to be seen as he is currently arguing the voluntariness of the confession.
Another call with his brother is being examined, as it deals with the treatment he was receiving.
The validity of this evidence will be decided on in the voir dire.
According to information on the charges, the murders are alleged to have happened some time between Dec. 17 and Dec. 21, 2017, in the Bolotzky Court home in Rutland where the family lived and was found.
Clara Forman was originally from Mexico and worked at GoodLife Fitness. She wrote on Facebook that she met Forman 12 years before her death.
“Met in January, started dating in July, engaged Oct. 27 married three weeks later on Nov. 11 at sunset. When I married Jacob Forman I left everything I knew to come to Canada and build a life,” she wrote in a Facebook post, Nov. 11, 2015.
“God blessed our feeble efforts with good jobs, good friends, a great church family and most importantly, two of the best little humans a couple of people could ask for. Ten years later you are still the person I want to grow old with.”
Forman has no previous criminal record in B.C.
A plumber, he was raised in Quesnel and social media indicates he lived in Vernon.
Forman has elected trial by judge alone.
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News from © iNFOnews, 2019