The long-drawn out sexual assault trial of David Kuntz-Angel continues this week in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster.
Kuntz-Angel, however, is asking for the charges to be dropped for unreasonable delay, a so-called Jordan application under section 11(b) of the Charter.
That application was scheduled to be heard Thursday (March 3), after the court went through a process to deal with the fact that the victim in the case is no longer able to participate in the proceedings.
After a 20-day trial in 2019, Kuntz-Angel was convicted of sexual interference, two counts of invitation to sexual touching, one count each of assault and uttering threats. The crimes were alleged to have taken place in Chilliwack and Hope.
The case has been unusual for a number of reasons, not least of which is because Kuntz-Angel is known from B.C. to Ontario for pretending to be American rock star David Lee Roth, a name listed as one of his aliases in court files.
Kuntz-Angel faced 12 charges in total during the trial that involved his grooming the complainant from the age of eight to 19 when she complained to police. Justice Neill Brown acquitted him of sexual exploitation, sexual assault, assault causing bodily harm, and one count of procuring. But he convicted Kuntz-Angel of the most serious charges.
But prior to the sentencing, the case was reassigned to a different judge, and Kuntz-Angel’s lawyer Chantal Paquette applied for a mistrial questioning the mental faculties of Justice Brown.
That mistrial was declared, and the entire proceedings began again in 2020.
Then on July 21, 2021, Justice Terence Schultes ruled that the victim, who cannot be named due to a publication ban, was unable to continue with further cross-examination.
READ MORE: Mistrial declared in Chilliwack’s David Lee Roth impersonator underage sex case - Jan. 22, 2020
READ MORE: Alleged sex crime victim of Chilliwack’s David Lee Roth impersonator can’t continue to testify - July 30, 2021
Defence then filed an application to have the victim’s testimony excluded from the trial due to a lack of complete cross-examination. On Nov. 1, 2021, Justice Schultes dismissed that application allowing transcripts of her prior testimony from the first trial to be used.
Crown counsel Wendy Dawson is using evidence from 11 witnesses at the first trial, along with the victim’s video-recorded and transcribed statements.
The Crown’s case was almost over by Thursday (March 3) with further trial dates scheduled for May, June and into August.
The continuation of the trial, however, is contingent on the outcome of Thursday’s Jordan application to drop the charges due to unreasonable delay.
READ MORE: Chilliwack man charged with sexual misconduct says he was beaten up in jail
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