Thirty-one days into a B.C. Supreme Court trial scheduled for 32, an accused murderer has been found guilty of a lesser charge.
The trial for David Allen Geoghegan started March 17 in Abbotsford, with the 31-year-old facing first-degree murder and kidnapping charges. On Wednesday (April 26), the trial ended with the murder charge reduced to manslaughter. Geoghegan was also found guilty of the kidnapping count.
He and co-accused Darius Commodore were charged following the 2019 Halloween night killing of Jordan Smyth, 26, in the Chilliwack area. Smyth’s body was found in an open area off a remote section of Sleepy Hollow Road on the reserve about one kilometre from Cultus Lake on Nov. 1, 2019.
Details from Geoghegan’s trial aren’t available due to a publication ban and fears that testimony and evidence from his trial might influence the judge/jury in Commodore’s. His trial is due to start July 31, 2023.
Geoghegan and Commodore were arrested June 25, 2021, Geoghegan in Chilliwack and Commodore in Abbotsford. Both are well known to the RCMP with lengthy and serious criminal records.
Geoghegan’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Aug. 21, 2023. According to the Canadian Criminal Code, a manslaughter sentence can range anywhere from four years to life.
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- With files from Paul Henderson
@ProgressSports
eric.welsh@theprogress.com
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