BC Prosecution Service says appeal not viable after man accused of murder acquitted

The BC Prosecution Service says appealing the acquittal of a man accused of killing 33-year-old Vanessa Terry isn’t viable, after a judge tossed out incriminating statements made to police due to “degrading and humiliating” treatment by investigators after the man’s arrest. 

Terry, a mother of three, was found dead in her home on the Seabird Island First Nation reserve near Agassiz, B.C., on April 6, 2024, in a case of alleged intimate partner violence.

Her former partner, Frederick Charlie, was charged with second-degree murder, but was acquitted last month after prosecutors called no evidence after Charlie’s alleged confession was ruled inadmissible by the judge.

Terina Roberts, one of Terry’s sisters, says she has been angry and sad for the last 2 1/2 years and is still grieving her sister’s death. 

Roberts says it’s unlikely she’ll be able to trust the justice system again after it failed her family and her sister, allowing the man accused to “walk away.” 

The prosecution service says it reviewed the case carefully and determined an appeal wasn’t viable in the circumstances. 

The service said in a statement on Wednesday that the “appeal process under the Criminal Code is onerous.” 

“Except in rare cases in which the assistant deputy attorney general determines it’s in the public interest to do so, the BC Prosecution Service does not disclose reasons behind the exercise of our prosecutorial discretion, including a decision regarding an appeal,” it said. 

Roberts said she doesn’t think words can ever describe the “heavy feeling” as she continues grieving her sister’s death.  

“I just feel like I’ve been left in the dark,” she said. “It’s like I’ve been just pushed off a cliff or something.” 

In her ruling released in July, Justice Palbinder Shergill criticized the tactics of undercover officers with the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, including that an officer deliberately urinated on himself while posing as Charlie’s cellmate.

“The decision of the undercover team to have (an undercover officer) urinate on himself in the presence of Mr. Charlie defies logic,” Shergill ruling said. “But more than that, it served to enhance the distasteful conditions facing Mr. Charlie.” 

No one from the homicide team was immediately available to respond to a request for comment on the Crown’s decision. 

A spokesperson said shortly after the court’s ruling that there would be no comment as it was awaiting a decision on the possible appeal. 

“We will be continuing to follow up on this case and once it is completely done in court, then we will be in a better position to comment on the interviewing strategies and covert techniques,” Sgt. Freda Fong said in a statement last month. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 19, 2026.

By Darryl Greer | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.