NEW WESTMINSTER — A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has dismissed an application by a man convicted of first-degree murder to have the case thrown out over his claim that trial delays violated his Charter rights.
The BC Prosecution Service confirms Justice Jennifer Duncan ruled against Brandon Teixeira’s bid to stay the conviction in the killing police have linked to organized crime.
A jury convicted Teixeira last August of the murder, attempted murder and discharging a firearm with intent to endanger life for the October 2017 shooting death of 28-year-old Nicholas Khabra in Surrey, B.C.
Crown lawyer Dianne Wiedemann argued during a hearing last month that Teixeira was partly responsible for delays after escaping to California, where he was living under an assumed name until his arrest in 2019.
Teixeira’s lawyer, Vicki Williams, told the judge that apart from two periods of time, including her client’s disappearance, that no delays were attributable solely to his defence team in the case spanning nearly eight years.
At the time, the prosecution service said a date would be set for his sentencing hearing if the court did not grant his application to toss out his case.
The court heard in January that Teixeira was arrested in Oroville, Calif., on Dec. 1, 2019, and extradited to Canada the following April to face trial.
The judge said last month that her approach was to examine whether there were discrete events or complexity in the case amounting to exceptional circumstances under the Jordan ruling — on which Teixeira has based his application — that meant delays were outside the control of Crown prosecutors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 25, 2026.
The Canadian Press
