A B.C. jury has convicted a man accused of a contract killing eight years ago of first-degree murder, attempted murder and firearms charges.
The Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU-BC) said jurors returned a guilty verdict for Brandon Teixeira in the killing of Nicholas Khabra and an attack on a second person, who survived, on Oct. 23, 2017.
At trial, jurors heard that Teixeira had shot and stabbed Khabra in a targeted hit, with a contract worth $160,000.
Security tight as trial for Brandon Teixeira begins
Crown prosecutor Dianne Wiedemann told the 14-person jury Teixeira had accepted the “contract to kill” because he believed Khabra had set him up in a drive-by shooting several days prior.
The court heard that on the night of the killing, Teixeira pulled a gun from his waistband and shot Khabra four or five times, then pursued him to the front door of a house where he stabbed him multiple times.
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The high-security trial heard graphic testimony from a witness known only as “Person X,” an alleged accomplice in the slaying who testified that he “froze” when the moment came to pull the trigger.
Secret witness cuts deal with police in Brandon Teixeira trial
Teixeira’s lawyer challenged Person X’s credibility, stressing how the witness — a criminal with $50,000 in debt — had cut deals with both the RCMP and the Crown.
His agreement to work as a police informant netted him half a million dollars, while his deal with prosecutors saw him plead guilty to conspiracy to commit murder, for which he served a five-year sentence.
Defence counsel Vicki Williams told the court Person X lied to police and violated the terms of his police contract, breaching the rules multiple times after he began working for the RCMP. Infractions included drug possession, threatening behaviour and motor vehicle violations, she told the court.
Teixeira was originally charged in the killing in 2018, but was able to evade police, becoming one of B.C.’s most high-profile fugitives.
Inside the arrest of Brandon Teixeira
He was arrested in Oroville, Calif., the following year in a raid that involved the Butte County Sheriff’s Special Weapons and Tactics Team.
During the arrest, Teixeira rammed a police armoured vehicle before police rammed him with a second armoured vehicle and eventually took him down with a police dog, according to the Sheriff’s office.
He was extradited back to Canada in 2020.
More to come …
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