Vancouver Sun...
Jean Ann James found guilty of 1992 Vancouver murder
James looked calm after learning jurors had reached a verdict after eight hours of deliberations
VANCOUVER -- A jury convicted Richmond senior Jean Ann James of first-degree murder Friday in the slaying of a woman she thought was sleeping with her husband back in 1992.
James looked calm after learning jurors had reached a verdict after eight hours of deliberations.
James, 72, was found guilty of slitting the throat of Gladys Wakabayashi, 41, on June 24, 1992.
Her lawyers had argued she falsely confessed to an undercover police operative posing as a crime boss who offered her the chance to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars in his gang.
Justice Catherine Bruce urged jurors Thursday to carefully consider whether the evidence supports the Crown or defence versions of the murder of the heiress.
The jurors began deliberations about 3 p.m. Thursday after a four-week B.C. Supreme Court trial.
Bruce spent the much of Thursday summarizing both the defence and prosecution positions, as well as the witness testimony during the sensational murder trial at the Vancouver Law Courts.
Wakabayashi, the daughter of a Taiwanese billionaire, was found in the master suite of her home at 6868 Selkirk Street in Vancouver by her estranged husband and 12-year-old daughter.
James was a suspect from the beginning, though there was no forensic evidence linking her to the slaying. In 2007, the unsolved homicide unit mounted an undercover operation targeting James.
I am glad the family of Gladys Wakabayashi has finally got some justice for Gladys. What a senseless act of brutality Jean James perpetrated upon Gladys...and for what? An unfaithful husband and her own jealousy.
ReplyDeleteHopefully James will go away quietly (not file appeals) and have a very miserable life for the rest of her days.
I do feel sorry for James' son. He didn't ask to be born to these parents ...an unfaithful father and a murderous mother. How very sad. My heart goes out to him as well.
If I was Adam James I would be at the Law Courts changing my last name.
ReplyDeleteAs for Jean, YES, justice. When will she start her jail term?
@ anon 2:33 - she would have gone to jail immediately upon the jury verdict. Lucky for Adam, "James" is a common last name.
ReplyDelete@ anon 1:37 - in Canada, in this situation, the likelihood of an appeal being granted or even attempted is slim-to-none, thankfully. And even if they do, she'll sit in jail until she "wins". Which will never, ever happen.