A B.C. Supreme Court Justice says Crown prosecutors can't be compelled to testify at a coroner's inquest into the murder-suicide of a Victoria-area family last fall.
But in a separate judgment, the judge says prosecutors will have to appear before a public inquiry into the death of an aboriginal man who froze to death in the Vancouver alley where he was left by police.
The decision means the Frank Paul inquiry will hear from three prosecutors who decided no charges would be laid against the two officers involved with Paul before he was dumped in an alley where he died of exposure in December of 1998.
In his ruling, Justice Thomas Melnick says the aboriginal population and the Paul family placed their trust in the Crown and deserve to know the truth about his death.
However, he ruled prosecutors won't have to appear before an inquest into a murder-suicide in Oak Bay, in which Peter Lee murdered his six-year-old son, his wife and his in-laws before taking his own life last September.
The inquest jury wanted to hear why the prosecutors granted bail for Lee, but the judge says the independence of prosecutors must be protected.
However, a Victoria lawyer representing victims of domestic abuse at the Lee case says she still expects answers from prosecutors when the inquest resumes.
Diane Turner says she had a previous agreement with the Crown to submit written questions prosecutors, and the Crown agreed earlier to answer those questions.
