Judge rejects peace bond for B.C. couple caught in terror plot

A judge has turned down a peace-bond request from the Crown – at least for now – for a husband and wife who were found guilty of terrorism offences, but later had those verdicts stayed, rebuffing the prosecution's pursuit of more stringent conditions of release.

John Nuttall and Amanda Korody were found guilty by a jury in June, 2015, of conspiring to murder persons unknown and making or possessing an explosive substance – in both cases for the benefit of or at the direction of a terrorist group. They were arrested on July 1, 2013, hours after they placed potentially explosive pressure-cooker devices outside the B.C. Legislature.

After they were found guilty, Mr. Nuttall and Ms. Korody argued they were entrapped by police. Last July, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Catherine Bruce stayed their verdicts, ruling RCMP officers had led the terrorist plot and manufactured the crime.

Mr. Nuttall and Ms. Korody were rearrested hours after they were released from custody and the Public Prosecution Service announced it would pursue a terrorism peace bond, which could allow it to seek strict conditions on the couple. Mr. Nuttall and Ms. Korody are currently living in Victoria on bail.

A hearing regarding the peace bond was held Wednesday in Provincial Court in Vancouver. Judge Reg Harris ruled against the prosecution, telling the court he would adjourn the proceeding until after the Crown's appeal of Justice Bruce's ruling is heard in October.

"Part of my role is the effective management and administration of justice. In this particular case, to proceed forth at this stage would be an unwise use of judicial resources," Judge Harris said.

Judge Harris had last week questioned why the Crown needed the peace bond, particularly since Mr. Nuttall and Ms. Korody have not breached their bail conditions. Those conditions require the couple to report regularly to a bail supervisor and not possess weapons, among other things.

The Crown did not reveal at a hearing last week or on Wednesday what additional measures it would seek through the terrorism peace bond. Sharon Steele, the prosecutor, said Mr. Nuttall and Ms. Korody remain a threat and the Crown has a responsibility to protect the public.

Marilyn Sandford, Mr. Nuttall's lawyer, said Wednesday the peace-bond matter should be adjourned. She had argued the Crown was trying to relitigate its case, despite Justice Bruce's findings.

"We've just been through this. It's been a very long amount of time. And anything that approaches in any sense a rerunning of the first trial, in our view, should be avoided, if it's possible," she said.

Ms. Sandford said a peace-bond hearing that occupied months of court time would be a "waste of resources."

Ms. Steele opposed an adjournment of the peace-bond request, but Judge Harris said whatever happens with the appeal could render any peace bond moot. Mark Jetté, Ms. Korody's lawyer, supported Ms. Sandford's application to adjourn. The parties are due back in court in November.

Ms. Sandford also asked at Wednesday's hearing that the bail conditions for her client and Ms. Korody be adjusted, so they only have to meet with their supervisor in person once a week instead of twice a week.

Ms. Steele said she recently spoke with a corrections official and Mr. Nuttall and Ms. Korody have been showing up for their appointments and "engaging well."

She said they were meeting with their bail supervisor twice a week because they did not have a stable place to stay and the supervisor believed they were at risk. She said the couple has since moved in with Mr. Nuttall's relatives and their living situation has stabilized, so the level of reporting was already about to be reduced to one in-person visit a week.

Before they became involved in the undercover police operation, Mr. Nuttall and Ms. Korody – who were heroin addicts subsisting on welfare payments – rarely ventured far from their Surrey basement suite. Justice Bruce ruled the RCMP exploited the couple's vulnerabilities. She said: "Simply put, the world has enough terrorists. We do not need the police to create more out of marginalized people who have neither the capacity nor sufficient motivation to do it themselves."

With a report from The Canadian Press