Man convicted of stabbing friend 73 times to face second trial | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Kamloops News

Man convicted of stabbing friend 73 times to face second trial

Image Credit: istockphoto.com

KAMLOOPS - The retrial of a man convicted of stabbing his friend 73 times during a drunken altercation has begun in a Kamloops courtroom.

Cory Bird, 26, was convicted in 2011 of second-degree murder in the death of Albert Michell.

Proceedings began Monday with a voir dire — a trial within a trial to determine admissibility of evidence, the details of which cannot be reported.

Michell's rotting body was found by a relative in a Lytton apartment on Aug. 17, 2008.

Bird was arrested three days later in Montreal in connection with an unrelated dine-and-dash incident.

He told police he had committed a murder in B.C. as part of a gang initiation. But he later changed his story, telling investigators the stabbing occurred after Michell made unwanted sexual advances.

Bird, who is bisexual, said he awoke after a night of drinking to find Michell performing a sex act on him and flew into a frenzied state.

Bird was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 12 years.

The trial judge said that because Bird is bisexual, he didn't believe the sexual advances would have caused Bird to lose control because of his previous experiences with men.

A lawyer representing Bird argued his bisexuality should not have been an issue and that the only matter the judge should have considered was the unwanted sexual advances.

Last summer, the B.C. Court of Appeal ruled that Bird should be retried because his conviction was based partly on flawed evidence from an alcohol expert.

Jury selection will take place in January for the remainder of Bird's second trial.

He remains in custody.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2014
The Canadian Press

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