(BEN BULMER / iNFOnews.ca)
June 20, 2023 - 12:51 PM
A Vernon man charged with the murder of a 50-year-old man in 2017 has been deemed unfit to stand trial.
Today, June 20, BC Supreme Court Justice Alison Beames ruled that Richard William Fairgrieve wasn't able to stand trial for the murder of Will Bartz who was found dead at his Sundance Suites apartment in July 2017.
Fairgrieve, along with Jacqueline Nicole Leavins, was arrested 18 months after Bartz's body was found, but he then had a stroke in prison. His lawyer had previously said this left him with an "organic brain injury."
In January 2020 he was declared unfit to stand trial.
Leavins later pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter and received a 10-year jail sentence.
After being found unfit to stand trial, Fairgrieve had been transferred to a psychiatric institute and put under the authority of the BC Review Board.
However, last November the BC Review Board decided that Fairgrieve was capable of standing trial.
The case headed back to the Supreme Court earlier this month for a three-day hearing on whether Fairgrieve could take part in his murder trial.
Justice Beames' decision today means Fairgrieve will remain in a psychiatric institution and not stand trial.
Along with the second-degree murder charge, Fairgrieve was also facing three charges of trafficking a controlled substance.
During Leavins' sentencing, the court heard how Bartz had been in a car crash when he was young that left him vulnerable and handicapped with permanent brain damage. His death was described as an "extremely brutal killing" by Crown prosecutors.
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