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By Jordan Parker & Curtis Galbraith

Man exonerated in Sexsmith stabbing facing trial for 2011 violent offence in B.C.

Nov 10, 2017 | 3:48 PM

The man who was acquitted of manslaughter in the death of an 18-year-old will now face a trial for a violent charge allegedly committed six years ago in British Columbia.

Jordan Joseph Wendland, who was found not guilty in the stabbing death of Donald Moberly and the aggravated assault of three other men involved in a 2015 bar fight in Sexsmith, is also charged with aggravated assault stemming from a 2011 incident.

According to Dan McLaughlin, communications counsel with the B.C. Prosecution Service, Wendland is charged for the single offence alleged to have occurred on December 29, 2011, “at or near” New Westminster, B.C.

The newsroom learned the nature of the British Columbia charge after the verdict came down in the Alberta case.

A seven-man, five-woman jury acquitted Wendland on all charges around 9 p.m.on Thursday evening.

Chief Crown Prosecutor Steven Hinkley said the verdict must be “crushing” for the families of the victims.

“The mother in this case, in one evening, lost one of her children and had another one gravely hurt. Another family has had another one of their children gravely hurt and another child was hurt. The community will likely never be the same. But, the Crown’s job is to try people for criminal sanctions and guilt, not whether or not their actions were morally wrong, but criminally, and that’s what this process was all about,” he said after the acquittal was handed down.

He said due to the confidential nature of jury deliberations, we will never know why the jurors acquitted Wendland.

Though no more information was provided on the B.C. charge or circumstances surrounding it, the newsroom is awaiting a call-back from New Westminster RCMP on the matter.

Wendland’s trial in that province is set for February 19, 2018.

by Jordan Parker & Curtis Galbraith