VANCOUVER — The judge hearing the case of two people charged with plotting to blow up the B.C. legislature on Canada Day last year has ordered that the news media shall have access to exhibits filed at trial.
Following submissions from a lawyer representing the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Catherine Bruce approved a protocol for media access.
The protocol is similar to ones previously approved for other major trials in B.C., including the Surrey Six and Greeks gangland murder cases.
Details of the submissions by the lawyers, including association lawyer David Crerar and the Crown and defence, cannot be reported due to a publication ban imposed on pre-trial matters.
The two accused, Amanda Marie Korody and John Stewart Nuttall, were in court for the association’s application.
Korody, wearing a green shawl over her head, sat quietly in the prisoner’s dock. Nuttall, wearing a suit and white shirt, spoke briefly with his mother, who sat directly behind him in the public gallery.
The police allege that the accused took steps to build pressure-cooker bombs and place them at the legislature, where crowds were gathered for Canada Day celebrations.
Nuttall and Karody, who remain in custody, are charged with facilitating terrorist activity and making or possessing explosives. Their next court appearance in the case is scheduled for today.
In July, following submissions by the civil liberties association, the judge relaxed a sweeping ban on pre-trial proceedings to allow the media to report that the accused are seeking a remedy for an alleged abuse of process on the part of investigating authorities.
Jury selection in the case is scheduled for Jan. 13 and 14 and the anticipated four-month trial is to begin Jan. 26.
