Colin Correia gets life for the 2010 murders of MacFarlane and Taylor in Cranbrook. He will serve 14 years before parole eligibility.
The double homicide happened in Cranbrook, B.C., in the Kootenay region, on May 29, 2010. RCMP found MacFarlane dead at a rural home, while Taylor was badly hurt and later died; the house was rented and located near Highway 93.
Police arrested four men, including Correia, who faced conspiracy and counselling charges involving murder and aggravated assault. RCMP said the men knew each other, and the murder plot was revenge for a bar shooting from 2009.
Correia and another man were gang members who dealt drugs, the Crown said in court; the target was Doug Mahon, a rival gang member. Mahon used to live at the house but had moved out months before the shooting, and MacFarlane and Taylor then rented it; the victims were reportedly killed by mistake.
Correia was convicted in 2013 for conspiracy to murder Mahon, receiving a 13-year prison sentence, and in 2018, he was arrested in Edmonton while out on parole. He was then charged with Taylor and McFarlane’s murder.
RCMP questioned him in Alberta for two days, and prosecutors said he made incriminating statements; however, the judge ruled them inadmissible. The judge thought police used “trickery,” implying he could not incriminate himself since he had already served time for the conspiracy.
Correia was found not guilty in April 2022, a decision the Crown appealed, claiming his statements should have been used and the verdict would have changed. The appeal court agreed in October 2024.
Correia knew he could face a murder trial and understood the effects of a conviction. He was then charged with first-degree murder, after which he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder instead. He cannot own firearms for life, and he must also submit a DNA sample.
