B.C.'s off-again, on-again political corruption trial was derailed once more this week after the father of one of the special prosecutors approached and spoke to two jurors at a Burnaby SkyTrain station.
Lawyers spent all day Tuesday and part of Wednesday discussing the matter, with the jury absent.
When the jury was called back into B.C. Supreme Court shortly before noon, Madam Justice Anne MacKenzie instructed jurors not to draw any negative inferences from the unusual incident, which took place late in the afternoon of June 16.
"It won't happen again," she declared.
The judge did not disclose details of what took place between the two jurors and the man, who was not identified by name.
"[He]was not connected in any way with the accused, their legal team or with any of their supporters or witnesses," said Judge MacKenzie.
"The person involved was the father of one of the Crown counsel."
Former government executive assistants Dave Basi and Bob Virk are being tried on charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting benefits in connection with the controversial sale of BC Rail.
A third defendant, Aneal Basi, is on trial for money laundering.
After the two jurors were approached, they reported the conversation to one of the sheriffs in the case, who in turn informed the judge.
Judge MacKenze said the jurors "did the correct thing" by passing on what happened.
She then asked the 12 members of the jury to raise their hands if they felt the matter compromised their ability to abide by their oaths of impartiality. None did.
Immediately afterward, jurors were dismissed for the rest of the day, to permit lawyers to argue yet another legal matter without their presence.
They have not heard a scrap of evidence so far this week.
A strict publication ban covers all proceedings that take place in the absence of the jury.
The marathon case has been in the public eye since a dramatic raid on the legislature in late December, 2003. Charges were laid a year later.
Still on the witness stand is Martyn Brown, chief of staff for Premier Gordon Campbell. Mr. Brown has been subjected to rigorous cross-examination from defence lawyers during his nine days of testimony.
Originally scheduled for six to eight weeks, the trial is now expected to last at least until next March.
The Crown alleges that Dave Basi, a key aide to then-finance minister Gary Collins, and Mr. Virk, in a similar role with then-transportation minister Judith Reid, received benefits for providing confidential information to one of the corporate bidders for BC Rail.
Both Mr. Collins and Ms. Reid are scheduled to be called as Crown witnesses.
Defence lawyers have suggested that their clients were merely carrying out the wishes of their political masters.