A judge on Tuesday discharged one juror in a Vancouver murder trial but decided against dismissing a second juror.
The unusual development in the trial of Yuan Xi Tang, who is charged with the first-degree murder of his mother, Lianjie Guo, came during the testimony of two undercover police officers.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice William Ehrcke said the male juror that he excused had a medical condition that was being treated in a way that was in conflict with his duties on the 12-person jury.
No other details were provided by the trial judge and the submissions made by the lawyers to the judge in the absence of the jury cannot be reported due to a publication ban.
The judge made his decision to discharge the juror Tuesday morning after the issue was raised during the testimony of an undercover police officer on Monday afternoon.
When a second undercover police officer began his testimony Tuesday afternoon, after the dismissal of the male juror, another male juror passed a note up to the judge.
Ehrcke asked the remaining 11 jurors to leave the courtroom so that the court could consider the issue being raised.
After submissions from counsel, the judge brought the jury back into the courtroom and told them that an issue had been raised by the juror regarding someone in a photograph in a court exhibit.
However he told the jury that it was not an issue requiring him to discharge the second juror.
The loss of a second juror would have put the trial on the knife’s edge of a mistrial, particularly since in Canada a mistrial is declared when a jury goes below 10 jurors and the Tang trial only began last week and is scheduled to run eight weeks.
The Crown’s theory is that Tang killed his mom because she was controlling and that he could not live under the control of his parents for the rest of his life.
Court heard that Tang was living in Canada under significant pressure from his parents, was financially dependent on them, stayed home a lot and was a loner.
The second undercover police officer to testify Tuesday told the jury that he was posing as a gangster pretending to extort money from Tang in exchange for the disposal of his mother’s body, which was found in a suitcase on a beach near Powell River in July 2012.
He said that the plan called for him and another police officer to be paid for helping Tang “get rid of his problem.”
“By doing so we hoped to lure Mr. Tang into telling us what happened — why and how it happened.”
The RCMP officer, who cannot be identified due to a publication ban, said he had temporary tattoos placed on both arms — one of an Asian dragon and the other of a Tiger — to help create the image of a gangster.
“In Chinese culture, it’s very common for gangsters to have tattoos. In Western culture, it’s not the same.”
The officer is expected to resume his testimony Wednesday.
