Defence lawyers for the New Zealand man charged with murdering his Dapp-area wife seven years ago say he should have the charges against him dropped due to unreasonable delay.
Defence lawyers for the New Zealand man charged with murdering his Dapp-area wife seven years ago say he should have the charges against him dropped due to unreasonable delay.
Peter Beckett's lawyers Marilyn Sandford and Alix Tolliday filed an application to stay the charges in Kamloops Supreme Court earlier this month.
Beckett faces one count of first-degree murder for the drowning death of his wife Laura Letts-Beckett on a canoe trip at Upper Arrow Lake near Revelstoke in August 2010.
Dan McLaughlin, Crown Counsel communications for the B.C. Prosecution Service, said the application to have the charges stayed for unreasonable delay began last week in Kamloops and will continue this week.
'Not exactly sure when they filed that application but we expect the submissions will conclude by the end of the week," he said.
"We're not sure when the judge will have a decision."
Last year the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that persons facing criminal cases in Superior Court must be tried with 30 months from the date of the person's arrest. The Crown must prove there are exceptional circumstances to justify the delay.
Beckett has been in custody for almost six years and went through trial last year, which resulted in a hung jury.
Beckett's lawyers also applied for a change of venue from Kamloops to Kelowna for the trial, which was originally denied in October.
McLaughlin said the judge approved that order May 15, but added he was not sure when the application was made.
The trial will go ahead Aug. 21 before a judge and jury for four weeks in Kelowna.
'I anticipate the same judge will preside," McLaughlin noted of the judge hearing the application in Kamloops.
Beckett, a 60-year-old former New Zealand city councillor, is accused of murdering his wife on Aug. 18, 2010 while on a fishing trip to Shelter Bay Provincial Park near Revelstoke.
The couple was on an inflatable dinghy at Upper Arrow Lake when Letts-Beckett went overboard and drowned. She was not wearing a life jacket at the time and was reportedly not a strong swimmer.
Beckett was charged with first-degree murder a year later on Aug. 11, 2011.
In April 2016, after more than five years before the courts and 50 witnesses later, the proceedings were declared a mistrial due to a hung jury and a single dissenting juror.
Beckett maintains that his wife's death was either an accident or a suicide attempt.
Letts-Beckett taught at Dapp School for 28 years and was to start teaching Grades 1 to 3 the September following her death.
She met Beckett in 1995 at a tour company he ran on New Zealand's North Island while on leave from her teaching job.
By 2003, the couple married and the two moved to Letts-Beckett's home in Westlock.
Beckett was granted residence in Canada the next year.
• With files from Ashley Legassic from InfoTel News
