The murder trial of Jason Brewer has come to a halt, just after the accused took the stand last week.
Brewer, 26, had pleaded not guilty in the stabbing death of his friend Cole Manning, 40, whose naked, bloodied body was found face down on Brewer’s bed New Year’s Eve of 2012.
The trial was set to take three weeks, but now it will be coming back to court on Thursday (April 2) to fix a date. It’s unclear why the trial has stopped.
From the beginning of Brewer’s trial, he has admitted to killing Manning.
Both were naked at the time of the attack. Brewer stabbed Manning almost two dozen times, leaving the kitchen knife in his victim’s neck. He then fled his Willoughby basement suite and met with a longtime friend, confessing what he had done. That friend called 911.
Toxicology reports showed Manning had no drugs or alcohol in his system at the time of his death.
Brewer also sent out several text messages before his arrest, some to his girlfriend at the time.
But it took tracking Brewer’s cellphone for police to find him. They were able to track him down nearly eight hours after the murder.
Police from both Langley and Abbotsford initiated a short pursuit and had to box him in on 264 Street to make the arrest.
Manning hadn’t lived in B.C. a long time. A friend of his from Alberta wrote to The Times after the murder,. saying what a kind man he was. The letter said he had moved here to get his life back in order.
His family was in the courtroom and some could be seen crying while hearing some of the evidence.
For such a short life, Brewer has caused a wake of destruction so far.
He deliberately caused a horrific six-vehicle crash on Highway 10, which caused permanent and devastating injuries to a man and a woman in 2009.
At that time he was on probation for robbing the Langley Mac’s store. His mom posted bail but then revoked it when he assaulted her with a knife.
In the head-on crash he originally pleaded guilty, because he said he was trying to commit suicide. He appealed to retract his guilty plea and won. However, a judge found him guilty anyway, sending him to prison for five years.