Tim Petriuk
Kristopher Teichrieb, the Kamloops man facing charges in connection with a 2016 beating that landed a teenager in a coma, has reached a plea agreement with prosecutors on the eve of what would have been his six-week attempted murder trial in Kelowna.
Teichrieb, 41, was charged with attempted murder and assault with a weapon in connection with a beating in the early-morning hours of June 19, 2016, that sent 18-year-old Jessie Simpson to hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Simpson remained in a coma for months. He began to wake following brain surgery in early 2017, but his health fluctuated. Now 21, there has been no update on his condition since late last year, though it is believed Simpson remains in hospital.
Teichrieb was arrested a short time after the altercation, which took place near his home in the area of Holt Street and Clifford Avenue in Brocklehurst, and remained in pretrial custody for more than two years. He was granted bail in August to spend time with his ailing father. He remains free on bail on a number of strict conditions, including one barring him from possessing a baseball bat or any other sporting equipment and another that prohibits him from entering the City of Kamloops.
READ ALSO: TRIAL DATE SET
Jury selection had been scheduled to begin on Monday for Teichrieb’s trial in B.C. Supreme Court. The trial was to be heard in Kelowna following a successful change-of-venue application by Teichrieb’s defence lawyer, Jordan Watt, who sought the move based on extensive media coverage of the incident.
Evidence in the trial had been slated to begin on Tuesday in Kelowna.
Lawyers and Teichrieb will now convene in a Kamloops courtroom on Tuesday for a guilty plea and sentencing hearing.
During the B.C. Supreme Court hearing, a prosecutor is expected to read an agreed statement of facts — circumstances of the incident that will be made public after having been bound by a court-ordered ban on publication following a failed bail application by Teichrieb in 2016.
Teichrieb is also facing unrelated charges alleging he counselled another inmate to commit assault in a Surrey jail in October 2016, months after his arrest.
Details of Teichrieb’s plea agreement, including to which charge he is slated to plead guilty, are expected to be made public in court on Tuesday.
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