The trial of a former Chilliwack pastor set to begin on Monday did not go ahead as planned but should start Tuesday.
Johannes (John) Vermeer faces one count each of possession of child pornography and accessing child pornography from May 1, 2010. He also faces the same charges with an offence date of March 17, 2015.
His eight-day trial was set to start on July 22, but Crown and defence agreed to stand down for a day so Vermeer’s lawyer could speak to Crown witnesses about some of the highly technical details of the case.
• READ MORE: Chilliwack pastor facing child pornography charges
• READ MORE: Trial starts Monday for Chilliwack pastor facing child porn charges
Both Crown and defence lawyer Michael Klein agreed that delaying the trial’s start by one day would serve to make for a more efficient trial, given the computer logs that need to be gone over in detail.
Crown suggested the one-day adjournment may not delay the trial because they originally had a two-day voir dire planned that is no longer needed.
Vermeer is the former executive pastor of downtown Chilliwack’s Main Street Church.
He was first arrested in March 2018, and in September a seven-day trial was scheduled to run July 22, 23, 25, 29, 30, 30 and Aug. 1.
Vermeer was in courtroom 205 for the scheduled start of the trial on July 22. He sat in the front row of the gallery wearing a black suit.
Judge Ormiston agreed to adjourn the trial down so the lawyers could confer, and the trial is now scheduled to start July 23.
@PeeJayAitch
paul.henderson@theprogress.com
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