The trial for the head of Vancouver Island’s outlaw motorcycle club, the Devil’s Army, is being heard this week in the B.C. Supreme Court in Victoria.
Wearing a mask, the head of Vancouver Island’s outlaw motorcycle club the Devil’s Army, Richard, known as Ricky, Alexander leaves the Victoria courthouse as his first-degree murder trial opens.
Alexander is charged with planning the shooting and killing of 30-year-old Saanich mixed martial arts fighter and father John Dillon Brown in the back of the head on March 11th, 2016 in the Devils Army’s Campbell River clubhouse.
As per Times Colonist reporting from day one of the trial, crown prosecutors say Alexander shot and killed Brown after Brown filed a lawsuit against the Voodoo Lounge following a fight that broke out between Brown and a visiting group of Hells Angels, and a Devils Army member at the club.
Brown’s on-and-off high school sweetheart Nicole Herman testified through tears Wednesday that she was pregnant at the time of Brown’s death. She says the fight had sent Brown to the hospital with serious injuries and unable to work.
“He was really swollen, he could barely open his mouth because of his jaw, and he said he had some loose teeth,” said Herman. “He said that some bikers jumped him at the bar.”
As a result of the fight, Brown filed a lawsuit seeking damages from the Voodoo Lounge. Brown alleged the establishment’s security stood by watching for several minutes as the fight went on.
Herman says the club’s president, Alexander, sought to settle the dispute with Brown out of court because he told Brown he “didn’t want his guys going down for it.”
Herman says the night Brown was murdered, Brown thought he’d be getting a payout of $11,000 from Alexander in exchange for dropping the lawsuit.
Instead, Brown was shot in the back of the head, his body stuffed into the trunk of his own car, which was found 75 kilometres north of Campbell River near Sayward March 12, 2016.
Crown prosecutors argue it was Alexander who pulled the trigger and drove and dumped Brown’s body there.
Alexander is pleading not guilty.
The 12-person jury also heard from a communications analyst who testified the afternoon Brown was killed no communications were sent or received, to or from Alexander’s phone for four hours the afternoon of March 11, 2016.
In cross-examination, Alexander’s defence lawyer Brent Anderson asked about text messages Alexander had deleted. The communications expert witness testified that Alexander deleted a variety of text messages, not just from Brown, and agreed that Alexander repeatedly messaged Brown to settle this through a lawyer.
In their redirect, crown prosecutor Kimberly Henders Miller pointed out that after March 4 2016, there was never a mention of a lawyer again between Alexander and Brown.
Brown’s girlfriend’s testimony is expected to continue Thursday.
Kori Sidaway
