A B.C. Supreme Court judge said April 3 she wouldn’t order all necessary force to be used to get a man accused of murder to attend court.
The case is that of Alvaro Julio Roche-Garcia, a retrial ordered by the B.C. Court of Appeal in August 2024.
On Nov. 6, 2021, a jury found Roche-Garcia guilty of first-degree murder of 69-year-old Zenen Cepeda Silva. A life sentence without possibility of parole for 25 years was passed a few days later on Nov. 9
In August, 2024, the Court of Appeal for B.C. ordered a new trial in the case.
On April 3, Justice Miriam Maisonville was due to hear an application from defence lawyer Brent Anderson.
However, the court heard Roche-Garcia was ill in custody and refused to attend court.
Crown Prosecutor Daniel Porte said it was not uncommon for Roche-Garcia to refuse to attend court during his first trial. So, Porte asked Maisonville to issue an order that all force necessary be used to have Roche-Garcia attend.
“I’m not comfortable making that order,” Maisonville said.
What happened?
Just before midnight on Jan. 26, 2019, police responded to a 911 call about a shooting on Fraser Street near East 51st Avenue in Vancouver.
Officers arrived to find Cepeda Silva suffering from gunshot wounds. He was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The appeal
Appeal Court Justice Gregory Fitch said the central issue at trial was the identity of the perpetrator.
Fitch said Cepeda Silva was with wife Maria Baldivia at the time of the incident.
He said the Crown’s case rested on Baldivia’s identity and recognition evidence; video surveillance of a man arriving and leaving in a vehicle with what appeared to be a handgun; Roche-Garcia’s roommate identifying him in the video; and firearm evidence confirming the bullet that killed the victim was fired from the same gun as a bullet recovered from Roche-Garcia’s residence.
Fitch said among Cepeda Silva’s last words to Baldivia were “…look how Alvaro has killed me.”
Among other issues, including an alleged flawed charge to the jury, Roche-Garcia argued on appeal that the statement had gone before the trial without a ruling on the admissibility of hearsay utterance.
Fitch ordered a new trial saying the lack of the statement admissibility inquiry was an error in law.
The case returns to court on April 19 with an order made for Roch-Garcia to attend via video.
