"Last Man Standing" After Shootout Over Drug Turf Gets New Trial

The “last man standing” after a shootout over drug turf at the New Wings Hotel on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside in 2005 has been granted a new trial by the BC Court of Appeals.  Three judges unanimously agreed that the lower court judge had erred in instructing the jury on the issue of self-defense during a 2007 trial which saw Dennis Knibbs jr. convicted of second degree murder.

Knibbs, who was in his late twenties at the time, shot to death 21 year old Trumaine “Echo” Habib, just minutes after Habib shot Knibbs’ cousin, 35 year old Ian Liscombe. Liscombe would die hours later in hospital.

Appeals Court Justice Ian Donald said in a written decision that the judge's instructions could have left the jury with the impression that the "law of the jungle" applied in the drug world.