Lawsuit approved over homicide

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This article was published 19/03/2016 (3486 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Manitoba judge has given the green light for the family of Winnipeg homicide victim Kaila Tran to pursue a a wrongful-death lawsuit against her ex-boyfriend.

Tran’s family has accused Drake Moslenko of masterminding the June 2012 attack. Tran was jumped outside her St. Vital apartment block and stabbed at least 31 times.

Moslenko was charged with first-degree murder but the Crown dropped the charge in 2014. He has since collected $50,000 in life insurance, which was taken out by Tran, and is seeking another $55,000 from a second policy currently tied up in courts.

Lawyers acting for the Tran family appeared in court earlier this month, seeking permission to commence the unusual action that essentially seeks to have the civil court do what the criminal court didn’t and find Moslenko culpable. But lawyers on behalf of Moslenko balked at the application, saying it wasn’t filed within the two-year period normally required for civil action. They also claim it is without merit and wanted it dismissed.

Queen’s Bench Justice Vic Toews released a written decision Friday, finding in favour of the Tran family.

“I note the respondent’s concern that the applicant relies on hearsay evidence in order to argue the existence of these material facts. The fact that the applicant has had to rely on hearsay evidence in her affidavit is not surprising, given that the ongoing criminal proceeding arising out of the death of the deceased has restricted her ability to access that information directly,” Toews wrote.

“It may be that the applicant will face an evidentiary burden at a civil trial of this matter which is significantly higher than the onus she must satisfy in this application, and that she may not be able to meet that evidentiary burden in that context, but that is not a relevant consideration in this application.”

The Tran family’s lawyer, Jamie Kagan, had argued the two-year time should be waived because the lawsuit is based on new information that only came to light within the past two years.

Specifically, Tran’s family points to recent disclosures from the Crown and police they say weren’t used against Moslenko in court, but implicate him.

The family has written to Manitoba Justice Minister Gord Mackintosh, demanding a judicial review into the decision to not proceed with the case against Moslenko. They are calling for Mackintosh to appoint a senior prosecutor, preferably from outside Manitoba, to review the department’s handling of the case. They want the results made public.

The man Moslenko allegedly hired to carry out the killing, Treyvonne Willis, was found guilty of first-degree murder last year and received a life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years. He admitted to ambushing and repeatedly stabbing Tran, 27, in exchange for getting off the hook from a drug debt. Willis is appealing the verdict, claiming he gave a false confession.

In their civil court affidavit, the Tran family claims the lead homicide detective assured them the charge against Moslenko would be reinstated after it was withdrawn at the preliminary hearing. They also say police and the Crown have told them about a second videotaped statement from Willis in which he directly implicates Moslenko in the killing. The taped statement was never used against him in court.

Moslenko’s name came up several times during the trial against Willis. Police repeatedly tried to get Willis to implicate Moslenko during a videotaped interrogation that was shown to jurors. He said he would be in danger if he started “dropping names.”

Police suggested Moslenko arranged the hit, which Willis denied. He also said he was never told why Tran had to be killed.

 www.mikeoncrime.com