New trial ordered in Yukon hotelier's murder

The Yukon Court of Appeal has ordered a new trial for two men convicted of beating a Carcross, Yukon, hotel and bar owner to death in 2004.

The court ruled on Tuesday that the jury thatconvicted Dean Boucher and Mark Lange of second-degree murderin 2006 had not been given proper instructions.

Boucher, also known as Dean Johns, and Lange are both currently serving life sentences in prison for killing Caribou Hotel owner Bob Olson, 64, on Dec. 24, 2004.

During the trial, the court was told Boucher and Lange went to the Caribou Hotel to seek free drinks from Olson, who was Boucher's uncle. The hotel's bar was closed at the time.

The two men were the only ones in the hotel when Olson was beaten, robbed and thrown into the back of his own pickup truck. The truck was then driven to Whitehorse, where Olson's body was dumped into a ditch.

Mistakes during trial

But the appeal court said the original trial was riddled with mistakes that warrant a new trial for Boucher and Lange.

Transcripts show the jury had received erroneous instructions from the Crown prosecutor and the judge. As well, jurors were never told they could give different verdicts for each of the two accused men, court heard.

The three appeal court justices chastised trial lawyers for doing so little to help with the judge's instructions to the jury.

Lawyers argued that some of the allegations Lange and Boucher made against each other should never have been allowed as evidence.

Boucher, now 38, beamed after the appeal court's decision was handed down in a Whitehorse courtroom. He was later brought to cells at the Whitehorse Correctional Centre, where he is staying while his case is being heard.

Lange, who is eligible for day parole later this year, will also have to be brought back to Whitehorse.

Crown prosecutors say they will have to decide if a new trial is justified, or if they will accept Lange and Boucher's original guilty pleas to manslaughter.