A Mission man’s request to have his first-degree murder conviction overturned was rejected by the Supreme Court of Canada late last week.
Jamie Robert Kokotailo, 47, was convicted by a jury in August 2009 of fatally stabbing his wife, Lori Lynn Elaine Kokotailo on Dec. 1, 2002. It was his second trial, after his first conviction in 2005 was overturned and a new trial ordered. Kokotailo received an automatic life sentence with no parole eligibility for 25 years.
Lori was stabbed nine times in the bedroom of the couple’s Tanaka Terrace home. Portions of the incident were witnessed by two of her four daughters.
Lori was killed the night she returned from Seattle, where she was having an affair that Kokotailo said he had found out about the day before through an e-mail he discovered. The Crown alleged that Kokotailo had known about the affair for several days prior to the incident, and had planned the murder.
Kokotailo had his murder conviction appeal dismissed in the B.C. Court of Appeal last November.