A man who was arrested in Abbotsford last September as a suspect in a U.S. homicide has been denied bail for the second time.
Kevin Patterson sought bail while awaiting a decision by the Minister of Justice on whether to extradite him to the U.S. on charges of murder and theft.
He was first denied bail in B.C. Supreme Court in February, and applied for an appeal, which was dismissed on Monday.
The Court of Appeal judge upheld the earlier decision, saying that Patterson is a flight risk, has a criminal history and is alleged to have committed a violent offence.
Patterson, 21, and co-accused Christopher Shade, 19, were arrested at a hotel in Abbotsford last September.
It is alleged that the pair used shovels to bludgeon to death Patterson’s roommate Richard Bergesen, 57, who was found dead in his Sammamish, Wash., home on Sept. 17.
The pair then allegedly stole the victim’s credit cards and 2013 BMW 328 sedan and fled to Canada, driving under a barbed wire fence on a road north of Spokane.
Patterson and Shade then allegedly used the stolen credit cards to go on a shopping spree in Abbotsford and host a party at a local hotel.
They were arrested later that day at the hotel after U.S. authorities tracked the BMW from the vehicle’s GPS device.
Court documents indicate that Patterson was homeless at the time he met Bergesen, a manager at Boeing, through a church pastor.
Bergesen offerered Patterson – born in Canada and adopted by a couple who later moved to Washington State – a place to stay about a year before his murder and helped him to take positive steps in his life, according to the documents.
Shade, a U.S. citizen, was moved back to the U.S. two months after his arrest, but Patterson, who has dual U.S.-Canadian citizenship, has remained in B.C.
In upholding the first decision, Justice Pamela Kirkpatrick said Patterson has a substantial criminal record that includes convictions for criminal trespass, assault, custodial assault, theft, forgery and identity theft.