ALDERGROVE STAR Your Hometown Community Newspaper for over 55 Years
| Thursday, October 10, 2013
Soccer Youths Win a Pair of Games!
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Page 3: Composting plant put on hold
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Apple Heritage Lives on in Derby Reach
Two murder convictions set aside for new Butorac trials By FRANK BUCHOLTZ Aldergrove Star
HARRY HUNT PHOTO
Arbourist Bill Wilde demonstrated pruning methods at the Heritage Apple Day celebrations at Derby Reach Park on Saturday, Oct. 5. The annual event celebrates the varieties of apples in the orchards here and the public is able to sample and purchase the distinct types of apples as well as trees.
Tie vote means yes, residents discover By DAN FERGUSON Aldergrove Star
Some residents who objected to a proposed water service connection have learned a tie vote means yes in the Township of Langley — and every other B.C. municipality. Even though the Township sent out letters saying more than 50 per cent of property owners would have to vote for a costly hookup to a new municipal water line to approve it, it turns out the provincial laws say something else. It was the second poll of the residents of 52 Avenue between 237 and 240 Streets about connecting to the under-
construction East Langley Water Supply line. The first vote was more than 50 per cent in favour, but it was thrown out after residents Shelley Murphy and Ray Murphy pointed out five of the responses were filed on or after the deadline date. The written Township notice said the voting forms must be filed “before June 12, 2013,” not “on or before,” the usual wording used in Township documents. The Murphys said the proposal should be considered defeated. Township staff did not agree. On their recommendation, council ordered another vote.
Before the second vote in August, the Township sent out a July 17 notice that “more than” 50 per cent of property owners would have to vote yes for the hookup to be approved. The vote was a tie, with 20 owners voting for and 20 voting against. A Sept. 13 Township letter said that was actually a win for the hookup because the Community Charter, the provincial regulation that governs such votes, says “at least” 50 per cent must vote yes for approval. “That’s not fair, Shelley Murphy told council Monday night (Sept. 30). SEE: Page 3
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Davey Butorac has been granted new trials, after winning an appeal of his conviction of murdering two sex trade workers. The Aldergrove man had been found guilty in 2010 of murdering Gwendolyn Lawton, 46, of Abbotsford in March 2007 and Sheryl Koroll, 50, of Langley on July 7, 2007. The B.C. Court of Appeal judgment was released on Thursday. Legal arguments were made in court on June 12. Lawton’s body was found on March 13, 2007 in a rural area of Abbotsford, while Koroll’s body was found in an industrial area of Langley City in the morning of July 7, 2007. She had been seen alive a few hours earlier. The convictions were set aside by the appeals court on the basis that the trial judge erred in accepting “the evidence of each murder as similar fact evidence with respect to the other.” Butorac’s lawyer had argued before the initial trial that the two counts should be separated, but the judge disagreed. The Court of Appeal website says “The murders occurred four months apart. The trial judge found the victims had some similar personal characteristics, their bodies were left in similar positions, and both were brutally beaten. “Both parties and the trial judge agreed, however, that these features alone were insufficient to constitute the high degree of similarity required for the admission of similar fact evidence. The critical factor was that the DNA or blood of both victims had been found in a Chevrolet Cavalier owned and driven exclusively by the appellant (Butorac). “There was persuasive evidence the vehicle had been involved in the death of one victim. With respect to the second victim, the trial judge recognized the evidence was not as conclusive, but decided that two objects found in the vehicle had the same characteristics as “patterned” injuries observed on the victim, and that the presence of her blood and DNA without innocent explanation indicated she had been in the Cavalier in close proximity to her death.” The appeals court says the trial judge erred in concluding the evidence met the high standard of striking similarity, required to justify the admission of similar fact evidence. It ordered new trials on both murder charges. Butorac is also due in court on a third murder charge, likely in early 2014. He is charged with murdering Margaret Redford of Aldergrove in 2006. Jury selection for the trial had been planned in February, but was postponed until November.
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