British Columbia Attorney General Wally Oppal says Crown prosecutors should not be forced to testify at the coroner's inquest into the tragic multiple murder-suicide case in Oak Bay last September.

The inquest into the deaths of five people ground to a halt Wednesday after Coroner Jeff Dolan called two Crown prosecutors to testify about why they agreed to release Peter Lee, the man behind the killings, on bail one month before the incident.

Despite several violations that were considered minor, Lee's bail was never revoked and he fatally stabbed his six-year-old son, Christian Lee, his wife Sunny Park and Park's parents before killing himself.

Dolan asked the two prosecutors involved in the Lee case to testify at the inquest after jurors requested it.

But the lawyer for the branch argued the lawyers shouldn't have to.

The inquest is on indefinite hold while the question is sorted out in a court.

Oppal said it is "regrettable" that the inquest will be delayed and said he hopes the issue is resolved quickly.

But he backed up the criminal justice branch's view that forcing Crown prosecutors to testify could send chills through the justice system.

"It's a difficult principle to explain, I recognize that," said Oppal, a former appeal court judge.

"But the fact is this is a principle of law. It's an important principle of law, recognized by the Supreme Court of Canada, by the British Courts and by everyone else. It is not fully understood by everybody, but that's the law."

B.C.'s New Democratic Party said the move will put the inquest on hold for a long time.

The inquest has heard the Crown chose not to oppose Peter Lee's release on bail, even though his terrified wife had told police five weeks before her September 2007 death that her husband had threatened to kill her family.

"If this issue were to go to the Supreme Court of Canada, it could take years," said NDP critic Mike Farnworth.

The Lee inquest has seen a videotaped interview between police and Lee's wife Sunny Park, in which Park told investigators she was terrified of her husband, who had threatened to kill her and her family if she continued with plans to divorce him.

She said Lee deliberately tried to hurt her by ramming the family car into a hydro pole, breaking her arm.

Lee was charged with driving offences and given strict bail conditions to stay away from Park had her family.