Media challenge publication ban on Lapu Lapu attack suspect’s fitness hearing

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VANCOUVER — A media consortium has challenged a publication ban on evidence at a hearing to determine if the man accused of killing 11 people at Vancouver’s Lapu Lapu Day festival is fit to stand trial.

The ban, which is supported by both prosecutors and the defence, says evidence in the British Columbia provincial court hearing is not publishable until it’s lifted or after the end of a criminal trial.

Adam Kai-Ji Lo faces 11 second-degree murder charges over the ramming attack in April, when an SUV drove through a crowd at a Filipino community festival.

Lawyer Daniel Coles, representing the consortium that includes The Canadian Press, argued that lifting the ban would be in the public interest, and the public is already aware of details including that Lo had “significant interactions with police in connection with mental-health issues.”

Coles says it’s essential to the public interest and the open-court principle to allow the media to report on the matter, as it is not often possible for members of the public to attend court and coverage “fills that void.”

Prosecutors and Lo’s defence lawyer Mark Swartz oppose lifting or changing the ban, with Swartz arguing the ban safeguard’s Lo’s right to a fair trial, and there is risk that publishing details of the fitness hearing could taint a jury.

Last month, Lo appeared in a Vancouver court as forensic psychiatrists Dr. Robert Lacroix and Dr. Rakesh Lamba testified as expert witnesses in the fitness hearing.

Their evidence cannot be described due to the ban, but their names and roles are allowed to be reported.

Lo, who attended Tuesday’s hearing by video, is expected back in court to continue the fitness hearing on Friday.