Nunavut court to hear Bishop re-trial next spring

Chris Bishop enters the Iqaluit courthouse ahead of his 2010 sentencing hearing. (FILE PHOTO)

The re-trial of Chris Bishop, the Cambridge Bay man charged with three counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder, will likely be heard starting April 1, 2015, his lawyer said.

Bishop’s lawyer, James Morton, said the re-trial would most likely be held in Iqaluit.

Bishop, 28, was originally convicted in 2010 on all five murder charges by an Iqaluit jury.

The charges stem from a 2007 incident in Cambridge Bay, when Bishop shot at five home invaders who broke down his door, killing three of them. One attacker carried a golf club, while another was armed with a samurai sword.

Kevin Komaksiut, 21, and Keith Atatahak, 28, of Cambridge Bay, as well as Dean Costa, 29, of Edmonton, died in the Jan. 6, 2007 shooting incident.

Logan Pigalak and Antoinette Bernhardt of Cambridge Bay suffered bullet wounds.

But in January 2013, the Nunavut Court of Appeal overturned the convictions and ordered a new trial.

That ruling found that the trial judge, Justice John Vertes, made errors in fact and law that prevented Bishop from making a full defence at his trial.

Information related to the character of the five people who invaded Bishop’s home was never heard by the jury during the original trial, Bishop’s lawyer has said, while other circumstantial evidence was allowed.

Bishop has been serving out a life sentence since 2010, with no chance of applying for parole for at least 16 years.