A Port Alberni man whose second-degree murder conviction was overturned by the B.C. Court of Appeal appeared in B.C. Supreme Court in Victoria this week.
Kim Rothgordt was found guilty of second-degree murder for the 2008 death of nurse James Shannon, who died after being attacked with a hammer.
On Wednesday, defence lawyer Robert Mulligan asked that Rothgordt’s next appearance be adjourned until March 18 in Nanaimo. The court agreed and Rothgordt is to appear by video at that appearance.
Last month, the B.C. Court of Appeal ordered a new trial for Rothgordt, saying B.C. Supreme Court Justice Ronald McKinnon was wrong in telling jurors a conviction could be based on a lack of evidence and that he erred in his instructions related to the defence of provocation and intoxication.
“It was not disputed at trial that the appellant killed Mr. Shannon,” said B.C. Appeal Court Justice Lance Finch in the ruling. “What was at issue was whether the appellant acted in self-defence, was too intoxicated to form the requisite intent for murder, or was provoked.”
The Crown’s theory was that the two men met for consensual sex and that Rothgordt may have been confused after his first homosexual experience before he snapped and killed the victim.
Rothgordt’s defence lawyer said his intoxicated client was sexually attacked and provoked to act in self-defence.
— With files from The Canadian Press
