Jury selection planned for Chilliwack man who shot at police during 10-hour standoff before his house was burned to ground

Could charges be dropped against Daniel Hackl in BC Supreme Court due to unreasonable delay before jury chosen in January?

Daniel Hackl faces a four-week jury trial in the new year, the jury for which is scheduled to be chosen starting on Jan. 5 in B.C. Supreme Court in Chilliwack.

On Victoria Day 2023 (May 22), RCMP responded to a report of an armed and distraught man holed up in a house. Hackl apparently had dozens of firearms, included some 3D printed ones, where he lived at the corner of Queen Street and Knight Road. 

Mounties were on the scene for more than five hours when the situation escalated. Neighbours reporting hearing gunshots, and police reported that shots were fired at them. The standoff continued into the evening. Attempted negotiations ended when the house went up in flames and Hackl was arrested. Neither the RCMP nor the fire department ever explained the cause of the fire, including whether it was intentionally set by officers, which was what one neighbour at the time.

The fire was out about an hour after it started but it destroyed the home and most of the possible evidence inside. 

The now 32-year-old Hackl is charged with attempted murder with a firearm and discharging a firearm with intent to wound/disfigure. An unconfirmed tip that a piece of police protective equipment was hit with a bullet, would explain the attempted murder charge.

The case has been beset by delays, which is a problem for Crown counsel given the so-called Jordan principle. Most of those delays, however, have been caused by Hackl himself, which doesn't get counted toward Jordan. The Jordan principle is the Supreme Court of Canada putting hard numbers to clarified the vagary of section 11(b) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms that affords an any person tried with an offence the right to “reasonable.” This means cases need to be wrapped up from charge approval to resolution in 30 months for all Supreme Courts, 18 months in provincial.

Hackl was charged in June 2023, which means January 2026 will be pushing up against 30 months. By the time a trial ends will be well past 30 months, however, at his initial court appearances in 2023 he was uncooperative. At one appearance he refused to give his name to provincial court Judge Kristen Mundstock. On later dates he refused to come out of his cell at Surrey Pretrial. More than 100 days later at a hearing in September 2023 his bail was denied as he sat silently in the prisoner’s box.

When he last appeared in person in May 2025, Hackl wore a standard orange jumpsuit. He is caucasian, was clean shaven with a bald and/or shaved head. He has been remanded since his arrest and detention in the early hours of May 23, 2023, which means he has served 30 months at Surrey Pretrial for which he will be credited for approximately four years time served by the time the case is over, possible as much or more than any sentence he would receive.

Could charges be dropped?

Based on the strict wording stemming from the Jordan decision, Hackl’s case would have needed to be wrapped up by October 2025. However, the delays caused by Hackl should be subtracted and in court in May 2025, his new lawyer Marilyn Sandford told the court that the inevitable delays because she was new on the case would be accepted as the fault of defence.

Crown availability, however, was somewhat of an issue in May such that those involved discussed they would likely be doing some arithmetic by December.

“Jordan is a concern,” Wray told Justice Dev Dley in May. “I understand the position my friend is in, delay will fall at the feet of defence, but there are some issues with the availability of Crown.” 

Whenever the case does begin, there may be no dispute that Hackl fired the shot or shots at police but the case will likely turn on the mens rea, the intent. 

Mens rea can run from intentionally trying to commit an act to being simply reckless or negligent, but the intent needed for a conviction for attempted murder as opposed discharging a firearm with intent to wound/disfigure, could be very different.

Jury selection is scheduled in B.C. Supreme Court on Jan. 5, 2026.

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Paul J. Henderson
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